f  California 

Regional 

Facility 


»w*'. 


I 


Ti?piW 

•     **  , 

v     w         V 


1  v  v.y;, 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE: 

ANCIENT    AND    MODERN. 


WITH 


A  VIEW  OF  THE  SEPOY  MUTINY: 


EMBRACING  AN  ACCOUNT  OF 


THE  CONQUESTS  IN  INDIA  BY  THE  ENGLISH, 

THEIR  POLICY  AND  ITS  RESULTS' 


ALSO, 


THE  MORAL,  RELIGIOUS,  AND  POLITICAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  PEOPLE: 
THEIR  SUPERSTITIONS,  RITES,  AND  CUSTOMS. 


BY 

EEV.  HOLLIS    KEAD, 


AMERICAN  MISSIONARY  TO  INDIA. 


ILLUSTRATED     WITH     NUMEROUS     ENGRAVINGS. 


COLUMBUS: 

PUBLISHED   AND   SOLD   EXCLUSIVELY   BY   SUBSCRIPTION, 

BY    J.     &     H.     MILLER. 

1859. 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  A.  D.  1858, 
BY  J.  &  H.  MILLER, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 

District  of  Ohio. 


S.  D.  THACHER,   STEBEOTYPER. 
OSOOOD  &  PEAECE,   PRINTERS. 


Stack 
Annex 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    I. 

Introductory  Remarks — Ancient  India  —  Trade  with,  the  West  —  Solomon — 
Tadmor  of  the  Wilderness :  its  Magnificence  and  Ruins  • —  Conquest  of  In- 
dia— Silk-Worms  first  brought  to  Europe 11 

CHAPTER    II. 
Conquest  of  India  by  the  Mohammedans,  and  the  Empire  of  the  Great  Moguls..     24 

CHAPTER    III. 

Modern  India — India  of  the  last  Century — Conquests  of  the  English — The 
Policy  and  unchristian  Character  of  the  English  Government  in  India — In- 
dia of  1857— The  Mutiny  and  the  Mutineers 42 

CHAPTER    IV. 
The  savage  character  of  the  Mutiny — Nena  Sahib — Causes  of  the  Mutiny 60 

CHAPTER    V. 
What  God  is  bringing  out  of  it,  and  what  will,  probably,  be  the  final  results 74 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Characteristics  and  Sketches — Local — Physical —  Social — Political — Personal 

and  Religious 86    •; 


iv  CONTENTS.       fc 

CHAPTER    VII. 

The  Deckan  —  Its  Extent — Tenure  of  Lands — Face  of  the  Country — Climate — 
Seasons — Soil  —  Productions — Walled  Towns  —  Open  Country — Flocks 
and  Herds  —  No  Roads — Modes  of  Conveyance  —  Rivers — Chief  Towns  — 
Sketch  of  Poona * 107 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

Ahmednuggur — Taken  by  the  English  —  Its  Ancient  Grandeur  —  Present  Con- 
dition—  Ruins — Fortifications  in  the  Deckan — Hill  Forts — Excavated 
Temples  —  Moral  condition  of  the  People  —  A  Missionary  Field 123 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Brahmunism  —  Illustrated  in  the  Life  and  Character  of  Babajee  —  Early  Life  of 
Babajee — His  connection  with  Missionaries  —  His  Conversion — Renuncia- 
tion of  Caste  —  Force  of  Habit — Obstacles  to  Hindoos'  Conversion 134 

CHAPTER    X. 

Babajee's  Marriage  —  Removes  to  Ahmednuggur — His  account  of  his  Conver- 
sion—  Eagerness  for  Instruction — Private  Character,  Delineated  by  way 
of  Contrast 144 

CHAPTER    XI. 

His  tender  Conscience — Docile  Temper — Humility — Self-Examination — De- 
v       pendence  on  God  —  Conquest  over  Covetousness — A  Letter  toother  Con- 
vert—  Loves  the  Bible — Feels  for  his  Countrymen 161 

CHAPTER    XII. 

Hindooism  Debasing  —  Papers  illustrating  Babajee's  mode  of  Thinking  —  The 
occasion  of  writing  them  —  Hindoo  notions  of  God — Treatises  on  Justifica- 
tion—  Marks  of  a  true  Gooroo — Sanskrit  Verse  —  Four  Hymns 175 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

The  latter  period  of  Babajee's  life — Labors  more  Zealously —  Grows  in  Grace  — 
The  Value  of  Native  Assistants  —  Church  Organized  —  Babajee  elected 
Elder  —  His  Sickness  and  Death — Reflections — A  Voice  to  Christians — To 
Young  Men — A  Prayer 188 

CHAPTER    XIV. 
Mission  at  Ahmednuggnr  —  Its  Origin  and   Labors  —  Death  of  Mr.  Hervey — 


CONTENTS.  V 

First  Convert — Three  Hindoos  Baptized  —  First  Monday,  January,  1833  — 
Inquiry  Meeting — Baptize  four  Natives — Means  Employed — Schools 198 

CHAPTER    XV. 

Duplicity  of  the  Hindoos  —  Danger  of  misrepresentation  in  Reports  concerning 

them  —  Two  Ways  of  relating  Facts  —  A  little  Note  sometimes  Needed 216 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

Hindoo  Notions  respecting  the  Female  sex — Widowhood  —  Prohibition  of  second 
Marriage — The  Death  of  a  Hushand  —  Wailings — The  Marriage  state 231 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

Noor  Mahal,  or  "The  Light  of  the  Harem" — Empress  of  the  Great  Mogul — 

Her  Origin  and  wonderful  History — An  Extraordinary  Woman 243 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Hindoo  Holy  Days — A  List  of  them — Their  Character  and  Influence  on  the 

People ,  259 

CHAPTER    XIX. 
Hindoo  Holy  Places  —  Their  Influence  on  the  People  —  How  kept  in  Character..  273 

CHAPTER     XX. 

Hindoo  Superstitions  —  Ceremonies — Omens  —  The  Treatment  of   Diseases  — 

Eclipses 290 

CHAPTER     XXI. 

Hindoo  Deities  —  Their  Origin  and  Character  —  Shiva  —  Lingam  —  Krishna  — 

Indru  307 

CHAPTER     XXII. 

Hindoo  Atonements  for  Sin — Penances  —  Sacrifices  —  Mortifications  —  Transmi- 
gration and  Punishment  for  Sin 320 

CHAPTER     XXIII. 

Religious  Orders  — Ascetics  — Mendicants  —  Beggars  —  Their  Character  and  mode 

of  Lite  —  Influence  on  the  People i 331 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

Miscellaneous   Explanations  of  various   Practices,   Customs  and  Vices  of  the 

Hindoos 342 

CHAPTER    XXV. 

The  Moral  Character  of  the  Hindoos  no  reason  for  Discouragement  to  Mis- 
sionary Efforts  —  Success  as  great  as  the  present  state  of  the  Church  war- 
rants us  to  Expect 360 


PREFACE. 


ALL  false  religions  may  be  traced  to  an  Asiatic  pedigree. 
The  parent  stock  is  a  practical  Atheism,  developing  itself  in 
a  melancholy  perversion  of  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God, 
"changing  the  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God  into  an  image 
made  like  to  corruptible  man,  and  to  birds  and  four-footed 
beasts  and  creeping  things."  The  two  great  fountains  of  reli- 
gious error  from  which,  for  near  6,000  years,  streams  of  death 
have  been  flowing,  are  Brahmunism  and  Boodhism.  These 
streams,  though  modified  by  almost  every  conceivable  circum- 
stance, as  intellectual  culture,  the  spirit  of  the  age,  the  social 
and  political  condition  of  a  people,  national  and  provincial 
character,  and  the  prevailing  philosophy  of  the  times,  and 
oftentimes  so  changed  as  to  seem,  to  the  superficial  observer, 
to  bear  little  affinity  to  their  original,  nevertheless  are  issues 
from  the  same  corrupt  fountain. 

Brahmunism  is  a  colossal  system  of  practical  gnosticism  —  a 
warfare  on  poor  defenseless  matter  —  the  laceration  and  morti- 
fication of  the  body  —  a  religion  of  rites  and  forms  and  pen- 
ances. Boodhism  is  an  equally  luxurious  growth  of  gnosti- 
cisms, as  developing  the  ascetic  principle  —  a  religion  of  abstrac- 


V'iii  PREFACE. 

tion,  whose  chief  aim  is  to  rid  the  spirit  from  bodily  connec- 
tions and  propensities,  that  it  may  lose  itself  in  the  great  per- 
vading Spirit  of  the  Universe. 

Take  as  a  specimen  whatever  form  of  false  religion  you 
please,  and  you  will  find  it  a  republication,  or  new  blending, 
or  modification  of  the  elements  of  one  of  these  two  mighty 
systems.  It  may  be  more  especially  the  child  of  the  one  or  the 
other  of  its  parents  —  may  abound  more  in  the  penitential  or  the 
expiatory  —  mockery  or  a  love  of  a  gaudy  religious  external  may 
preponderate,  yet  its  lineal  descent  may  be  traced  in  no  ambigu- 
ous line  to  the  palmy  East.  If  it  be  neither  Brahmunism  or 
Boodism,  it  is  both,  as  recast  in  the  mould  of  the  age  in  which 
you  find  it,  and  combined  in  different  proportions  and  adapted 
to  "  the  times." 

It  is  in  reference  to  such  a  view  of  the  great  schemes  which 
Satan  has  originated  and  nurtured  (in  the  form  of  false  reli- 
gions) by  >  which  to  deceive  the  nations,  that  I  put  forth  the  ac- 
companying volume.  It  is  designed,  as  one  object  aimed  at,  to 

be   a   PLAIN  AND   PRACTICAL   ILLUSTRATION    OF    BRAHMUNISM.        And 

whoever  will  study  this  monstrous  system  of  error  in  refer- 
rence  to  a  right  understanding  of  modern  systems  of  false 
belief,  will  find  his  position  peculiarly  favorable  to  acquaint 
himself  with  the  philosophy  of  all  religious  error.  He  will  sec 
that  Error,  as  well  as  Truth,  has  its  system,  its  lineal  descent,  its 
history  and  its  philosophy  —  that  all  the  different  forms  of  Error 
are  but  parts  of  one  great  whole,  and  this  whole  but  an  exact 
counterfeit  of  Truth  itself. 

The  memoir  is  submitted  to  the  perusal  of  the  public,  to  ex- 
hibit the  character  of  a  Hindoo  Brahmun,  both  before  and  after 


PREFACE.  IX 

his  heart  had  been  subdued  by  divine  grace ;  and  with  the  hope 
that  it  may  encourage  the  friends  of  missions  to  the  heathen, 
and  silence  the  cavils  of  the  skeptical.  His  conversion,  life, 
labors  and  death,  is  a  merciful  token  from  the  great  head  of  the 
church,  that  the  Brahminical  priesthood,  though  so  sunk  in  all 
that  is  morally  degrading,  may  yet  be  a  "holy  priesthood." 
The  power  and  grace  of  God  here  displayed,  force  on  us  the 
conviction  that  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  is  an  event  con- 
fidently and  rationally  to  be  expected.  To  disbelieve  here,  is 
more  absurd  than  to  believe. 

It  is  not  pretended  that  the  case  of  Babajee  was  a  common 
one.  His  zeal  for  the  conversion  of  his  countrymen,  his  energy 
of  character,  his  disinterestedness  and  spiritual  attainments, 
distinguish  him  from  most  converts  from  Paganism.  He  seems 
selected,  by  sovereign  grace,  to  show  the  riches  of  God's  mercy, 
for  the  honor  of  his  name  among  the  heathen,  for  the  confor- 
mation of  his  promises  to  his  church,  and  the  encouragement  of 
missionaries  abroad  and  their  patrons  at  home. 

The  historical  notices  in  which  the  volume  somewhat  abounds, 
will,  I  flatter  myself,  not  prove  its  less  interesting  portion,  but 
will  furnish  the  general  reader  with  so  much  information  on 
topics  not  well  known,  as  shall  repay  the  perusal. 

I  have  throughout  this  volume  attempted  an  UNDISGUISED 
exhibition  of  Hindooism.  This  I  have,  in  many  instances,  found 
to  be  impossible,  without  sometimes  transgressing  those  STRICT 
rules  of  delicacy  —  amounting  sometimes,  perhaps,  to  SQUEAMISH- 
NESS  —  which,  in  our  country,  the  present  age  has  prescribed. 
I  have,  as  far  as  possible,  avoided  all  indelicacy  of  language. 
More  than  this  could  not  be  done,  without  omitting  entirely  to 


X  PREFACE. 

speak  on  several  subjects  which,  more  than  any  other,  go  to  de- 
velop the  real  character  of  Hindooism.  I  could  have  said,  as 
most  writers  on  these  subjects  have  said,  that  "  delicacy  forbids 
me,"  &c.  But  I  have  always  regarded  such  apologies  as  misera- 
ble substitutes  for  the  information  which  I  was  seeking  con- 
cerning the  national  and  religious  character  of  a  great  nation 
of  Pagans.  The  reader  need  not,  however,  suppose  that  I  have 
unblushingly  told  ALL.  There  still  remains  behind  the  curtain 
all  those  things  which  "  may  not  so  much  as  be  named  among 

you." 

I  have  likewise  pursued  the  same  course  in  my  accounts  of 
missionary  operations  in  India.  My  only  endeavor,  in  both 
cases,  has  been  to  present  a  FAIR  picture,  without  giving  an  un- 
due prominence  either  to  light  or  shade.  H.  R. 


INDIA    AND    ITS    PEOPLE. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Introducotry  remarks — Ancient  India — Trade  with  the  West — Solomon — Tadmor  of 
the  Wilderness,  its  Magnificence  and  Ruins — Conquests  of  India — Silk-Worms 
first  brought  to  Europe. 

I  CANNOT  think  of  the  Old  World  without  enthusiasm.  I  can- 
not look  back  on  its  once  familiar  scenes  and  not  cherish  a  pleas- 
ing remembrance  of  a  land  where  Paradise  was ;  where  the  first 
human  family  opened  their  ravished  eyes  in  innocence  on  the 
unblemished  beauty  of  this  lower  world ;  where  have  transpired 
most  of  the  mighty  events  which  have  kept  the  world  in  motion, 
and  where  yet  remain  the  monuments  of  human  greatness  and 
folly.  It  is  now  in  ruins.  Its  once  fertile  soil  languishes  for  the 
want  of  the  industry  and  skill  of  man.  Its  costly  temples, 
tombs,  and  aqueducts  are  in  ruins.  Its  gorgeous  palaces,  which 
were  once  the  busy  theatres  of  all  that  was  great  and  proud  and 
brilliant  —  its  spacious  halls,  and  courts  and  armories,  are  in 
ruins.  Man,  too,  is  in  ruins.  He  is  but  the  wreck  of  the  noble 
being  God  placed  in  Eden.  Mind  is  there  in  ruins.  Bleak  deso- 
lation has  swept  over  it.  It  is  but  the  stinted,  withered  plant  of 
its  noble  original.  But  the  direst  of  all  its  ruins,  is  that  of  man's 
moral  and  immortal  part.  Here  virtue  weeps  and  religion  hides 
her  head. 

India  has  always  been  a  country  of  rare  interest  —  at  times,  of 
enchantment.  Here  have  been  the  scenes  of  the  mightiest  mar- 


12  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

tial  exploits.  Empires  more  extensive  and  mighty,  more  bril- 
liant and  lasting  than  ever  flourished  elsewhere,  existed  here  be- 
fore the  first  frail  bark  plowed  the  dark  waters  of  the»Atlantic, 
or  the  red  man  of  this  ]^ew  "World  had  been  "molested  in  the 
chase.  It  is  the  land  of  many  a  fairy  tale  which  is  scarcely  an 
exaggeration  of  real  life. 

The  natural  productions  of  India,  the  works  of  art,  the 
beauty  and  grandeur  of  its  scenery,  the  unvarying  and  unique 
manners  of  its  inhabitants,  make  it  one  of  the  most  interesting 
regions  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

By  India  is  meant  the  territory  that  lies  between  the  Indus 
river  on  the  west  and  the  Brahmapootra  on  the 'east;  Cape 
Comorin  on  the  south  and  the  Himalaya  mountains  on  the  north ; 
including  a  surface  of  1,800  miles  from  north  to  south,  and 
1,500  in  its  greatest  breadth  from  east  to  west.  A  remarkable 
feature  is  that  it  presents  such  a  variety  of  climate  in  so  narrow 
a  compass  of  latitude  —  and  this,  too,  so  far  south.  Its  various 
degrees  of  elevation  produce  every  variety  of  climate,  from  the 
intense  cold  and  eternal  snow  of  the  polar  regions,  to  the  burn- 
ing sands  and  scorching  heats  of  the  torrid  zone.  The  tops  of 
the  Himalayas  are  covered  with  perpetual  snow ;  the  plains  of 
the  Deckan  are  scorched  by  a  burning  sun.  Consequently  India 
yields  thg  productions  of  every  land. 

Though  much  of  India  be  level,  yet  it  presents  some  of  the 
most  picturesque  and  sublime  mountains  in  the  world.  Such 
are  the  Himalayas  on  the  north,  and  the  Ghauts  on  the  west.  — 
One  immense  plain  extends  through  its  whole  width,  watered 
on  the  east  by  the  Ganges  and  the  Jumna,  and  is  the  most 
fertile  land  in  the  world. 

Such,  in  some  of  its  general  features,  is  the  country  to  which  I 
now  ask  the  reader's  attention.  Accompany  me  through  the 
subsequent  chapters,  and  if  I  cannot  please  you  with  fictions,  I 
will  endeavor  to  interest  you  with  facts,  such  as  have  fallen 
under  my  observation  during  a  five  years  residence  in  that  great 
and  interesting  country. 

I  am  not  ignorant  that  the  limited  intercourse  between  India 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  13 

and  America  very  much  precludes  us  as  a  people  from  having 
any  very  accurate  or  minute  acquaintance  with  that  country. 
There  is  but  a  vague  knowledge  of  the  country,  and,  in  general^ 
a  still  more  vague  knowledge  of  the  people.  Reports,  journals, 
letters  have  done  what  in  this  way  could  be  done.  But  the 
heterogeneous  mass  of  information  thus  communicated,  lies 
scattered  through  the  innumerable  volumes,  pamphlets  and 
newspapers,  which  the  religious  press  has  sent  forth  the  past 
twenty  years,  and  the  public  are  scarcely  the  wiser.  It  is  not 
possible  for  me,  wholly,  to  supply  the  deficiency.  I  may  not 
expect  to  present  in  a  connected  form  so  much  information  as 
has  already,  in  detached  portions,  been  thrown  before  the  Ameri- 
can public,  and  overlooked  or  forgotten  by  them.  Yet  I  may 
contribute  a  humble  share  to  supply  an  important  desideratum 
at  the  present  stage  of  our  benevolent  enterprises. 

The  Hindoos  claim  an  almost  unbounded  antiquity.  They 
will  modestly  tell  you  they  are  the  most  ancient,  honorable, 
learned,  holy  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  They  believe 
their  country  occupies  the  centre  of  the  world,  which  is  one 
great  plain,  and  the  other  nations  of  the  earth  are  placed  abou 
it  in  concentric  circles.  They  trace  back  their  history  to  an 
immense  antiquity,  and  assert  that  all  Hindoostan,  from  the 
Indus  to  the  confines  of  China,  formed  one  vast  empire. 

Indian  history  may  be  divided  into  three  periods :  the  period 
before  the  conquest  of  the  Mohammedans ;  the  period  of  the 
reign  of  the  Mohammedans;  and  that  since  the  nations  of 
Europe  have  held  large  possessions  in  India. 

The  history  of  the  first  of  these  periods  is  so  enveloped  in  the 
mists  of  fable  that  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  truth  from  fiction. 
Indeed,  we  are  not  sure  that  we  know  anything  of  the  early 
history  of  India  —  though  we  do  know  something  of  her  history 
earlier  than  Greece  flourished,  or  the  foundations , of  Rome  were 
laid,  or  the  Hebrew  Commonwealth  nad  arrived  at  the  acme  of 
her  glory.  "When  Europe  was  darkened  in  barbarism,  and  Eng- 
land with  the  abode  of  the  Druids,  and  -her  people  scarcely 
towered  in  intellectual  stature  above  Xhe  Hottentots,  and 


14  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

America  was  an  unknown  forest,  traversed  only  by  the  wild 
man,  India  was  an  old  country,  covered  with  mighty  nations, 
and  peopled  by  men  of  comparative  refinement  and  civilization. 
"We  cannot  trace  the  origin  and  the  early  progress  of  the  arts, 
the  sciences  and  institutions  of  Ancient  India.  We  find  her  a 
full  grown  nation  at  our  first  introduction.  The  records  of  her 
childhood  and  youth  are  lost,  probably  past  all  recovery. 

Yet  I  do  not  think  it  quite  true  that  no  traces  of  the  history 
of  this  ancient  people  have  come  down  to  us.  The  Hindoo  him- 
self—  his  peculiar  genius  and  cast  of  mind  —  furnishes  us  a  key 
by  which  we  may  unlock  the  mystic  door,  and  cull  from  the 
legendary  store  a  few  genuine  materials.  The  Hindoo  invests 
every  thing  with  the  marvelous.  Truth  and  honesty  are  too 
tame  and  insipid.  To  say  that  some  renowned  king  lived  a 
thousand  years  ago,  made  conquests,  established  a  great  empire, 
administered  his  government  with  justice,  protected  Hindooism, 
fed  the  Brahmuns,  abounded  in  charity  to  the  poor,  reigned 
thirty  years,  and  died  at  the  age  of  sixty,  would  be  too  insipid 
a  tale  to  command  the  perusal  of  any  one.  The  hero,  there- 
fore, must  be  invested  with  a  divine  character.  It  must  be  said 
he  was  an  incarnation  of  the  Deity  ;  that  he  flourished  two  mil- 
lions of  years  ago;  that  he  was  in  stature  like  the  cocoa-nut 
tree ;  that  he  lived  a  thousand  years ;  fought  with  the  giants ; 
imprisoned  thirty-three  millions  .of  gods ;  tore  mountains  from 
their  foundations  to  construct  a  bridge  over  the  sea ;  gave  lacks 
of  rupees  to  the  Brahmuns ;  became  a  terror  to  Indra,  the  king 
of  the  gods,  on  account  of  his  piety;  paid  court  to  the  sun,  and 
received  from  him  some  invaluable  boon ;  and,  like  Yirgil's  hero, 
descended  to  the  infernal  regions,  and  visited  the  manes  of 
his  fathers.*  The  Hindoo,  though  the  most  incredulous  about 
historical  truth,  feels  no  difficulty  in  believing  such  kind  of  his- 
tory. Such  are  his  habits  of  thinking,  and  such  the  character 
of  his  sacred  books,  that  he  seems  quite  incapable  of  believing 
the  naked  truth.  Hence  it  is  that  the  accounts  which  the 

*  Such  is  the  history  of  the  great  king  Vicram,  of  central  India. 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  15 

Hindoos  have  of  the  creation,  of  the  deluge,  of  the  subsequent 
peopling  of  the  earth,  and  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  Indian 
empire,  are  so  wrapped  up  in  the  most  incredible  fictions,  that, 
at  first  view,  we  are  ready  to  say  there  is  not  a  particle  of  truth 
to  be  found  in  this  whole  heterogeneous  mass  of  rubbish. 

The  Hindoos  divide  time  into  four  periods,  which  are  called 
yoogs :  the  last  of  which  periods  (the  one  in  which  we  are  now 
living)  is  called  the  Kalee  yoog;  the  present  year  (1858)  is  the 
4958th  year  of  this  yoog.  What  occurred  among  mortals  dur- 
ing the  threelfirst  periods  of  the  world,  we  know  not;  no  records 
remain.  Tradition  here  steps  in,  as  usual,  and  pretends  to  sup- 
ply the  deficiency.  "We  learn,  however,  little  from  her,  except 
that  virtue  and  truth  prevailed  in  the  first  period,  and  men 
lived  one  hundred  thousand  years.  In  the  second  period,  only 
three  parts  of  the  creation  obeyed  the  oracles  of  God,  and  men 
lived  ten  thousand  years.  In  the  third  period,  half  the  creation 
became  corrupt,  and  the  age  of  man  was  limited  to  a  thousand 
years.  During  the  last  period,  man  has  departed  from  the  re- 
citude  of  his  fathers,  —  only  a  fourth  part  regard  the  dictates 
of  God,  and  human  life  is  curtailed  to  one  hundred  years.  The 
commencement  of  the  Kalee  yoog,  it  will  be  seen,  does  not 
materially  differ  from  the  Mosaic  date  of  the  creation. 
^The  founder  of  the  first  empire  in  India,  appears,  from  the 
Maha  Burnt,  (an  Indian  poem,)  to  have  been  Krishna.  This 
event  took  place  soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  Kalee 
yoog.  Krishna  and  his  posterity  reigned  four  hundred  years. 
In  his  reign,  learning  is  said  to  have  flourished,  and  the  people 
were  divided  into  castes.  Then  followed  a  succession  of  sixteen 
or  eighteen  dynasties.  The  empire  of  the  Hindoos  over  India 
came  down  entire,  till  about  one  hundred  and  seventy  years 
before  Christ,  when  it  was  dissolved  by  civil  discord  and  war. 
Princes  and  governors  of  different  provinces  assumed  the  ap- 
pearance of  independent  sovereigns,  and  took  the  name  of 
emperors.  •  Still,  there  was  never  afterwards  a  regular  suc- 
cession of  kings.  India,  though  no  longer  united  in  one  great 
empire,  was  still  powerful  and  rich.  No  foreign  invasion  had 


16  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

exhausted  her  resources.  If  we  may  judge  from  the  wealth, 
comforts,  and  luxuries  of  life,  which  the  first  conquerors  found, 
we  must  believe  that  India  was  once  a  land  favored  of  Heaven, 
above  almost  any  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  And  may 
we  not  indulge  the  pleasing  supposition  that  she  once  honored 
and  adored  the  Author  of  her  blessings  ?  But,  alas !  ungrateful 
India !  thy  present  degradation  betrays  thy  guilt !  Thou  hast 
forsaken  the  Lord  thy  God !  Thou  hast  not  hearkened  to  his 
voice,  to  observe  to  do  all  his  commandments,  and  his  statutes, 
which  he  has  commanded  thee;  thou  has  turned  aside  after 
other  gods  to  serve  them ;  and  all  the  curses  pronounced  against 
rebellious  Israel  -have  fallen  on  thee !  "  Thou  art  cursed  in  the 
city  and  in  the  field ;  thou  art  cursed  in  thy  basket  and  thy 
store ;  thou  art  cursed  in  the  fruit  of  thy  body,  in  the  fruit  of 
thy  flocks,  and  in  thy  lands ;  thou  art  cursed  when  thou  comest 
in,  and  when  thou  goest  out !  The  Lord  has  sent  upon  thee 
cursing,  vexation,  and  rebuke,  in  all  that  thou  wouldst  do  !  • 
The  pestilence  cleaves  to  thee!  The  Lord  has  smitten  thee 
with  consumption,  with  fever,  with  extreme  burning,  and  with 
the  sword,  and  with  blasting  and  mildew,  and  they  will  pursue 
thee  till  thou  perish !" 

It  seems  not  certain  that  sacred  history  contains  any  direct 
account  of  India.  Allusions  are  doubtless  made  to  an  extensive 
trade,  with  that  country  in  the  days  of  Solomon.  This  wise, 
rich  and  enterprising  prince  conducted  an  extensive  foreign 
commerce.  He  had  ships  on  the  Mediterranean  and  Red  Seas, 
the  latter  of  which  traded  with  Ophir  and  Javan,  countries 
which,  judging  from  their  products  —  as  "  gold,  peacocks, 
apes,  spices,  ivory,  ebony,  precious  cloths,  embroidered  work, 
chests  of  apparel  bound  with  cords" — must  have  been  in  India. 

Ships  in  this  trade,  called  ships  of  Tarshish,  sailed  from 
Ezion-gcber  on  the  Eed  Sea.  But  this  sea,  on  account  of  con- 
trary winds,  not  being  navigable  more  than  half  the  year,  com- 
merce met  a  sad  check,  which  induced  this  ambitious  prince  to 
seek  another  route  by  which  to  procure  the  rich  manufactures 
and  luxuries  of  the  East.  Such  a  route  was  found  by  the  way 


INDIA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE.  17 

of  the  Persian  Gulf  and  the  Euphrates,  and  thence  by  caravans 
over  the  desert  to  Judea.  And  to  facilitate  the  passage  of  cara- 
vans over  this  arid  desert,  Solomon  built  "  Tadmor  in  the 
Wilderness,"  both  as  a  vast  store-house  for  goods,  and  a  resting 
place  for  caravans. 

You  will  not  regret  stopping  a  few  moments  in  this  extra- 
ordinary city.  It  is  now  in  ruins ;  but  these  are  enduring 
memorials  of  its  former  magnificence.  It  was  situated  60  miles 
from  the  Euphrates  and  200  from  the  Mediterranean,  and  sur- 
rounded on  every  side  by  a  sandy  desert.  A  strange  location 
for  a  city ;  yet  not  so  replete  with  folly  as  that  of  scores  in  our 
western  wilds.  This  was  no  "  paper  city."  It  was  what  its 
name  so  beautifully  imports  —  a  palm  tree  in  the  desert  — a  spot 
on  which  the  eye  was  regaled  with  all  the  beauty  and  splendor 
of  the  East,  and  the  taste  gratified  with  all  the  luxuries  of  the 
oriental  world. 

"  Its  ruins  extend  over  a  space  ten  miles  in  length  by  five  in 
width,  and  may  challenge  any  others  in  the  world,"  says  Buck- 
ingham, "  for  costly  splendor.  There  are  traces  of  avenues  five 
and  six  miles  in  extent,  with  immense  rows  of  Corinthian 
columns,  and  the  many  remains  of  vast  temples."  Athens, 
Rome,  or  Thebes  do  not  exhibit  a  mass  of  ruins  so  magnificent. 
Yet  it  enjoyed  none  of  the  ordinary  resources  of  wealth.  It 
had  neither  agriculture,  shipping,  mining,  nor  manufactures. 
But  it  was  the  grand  thoroughfare  of  the  eastern  and  western 
worlds,  at  a  time  when  India  was  proverbially  the  land  of 
opulence.  It  was  simply  the  spot  where  buyers  and  sellers  on 
a  magnificent  scale  met,  and  caravans  of  50,000  or  100,000 
camels  were  receiving  their  supplies  and  preparing  for  their 
journey  westward.  Though  its  means  of  wealth  were  singular, 
they  were  neither  few  nor  small. 

But  whence  the  pre-eminence  this  city  of  the  desert  may 
claim  in  architectural  beauty  and  grandeur?  The  answer  is, 
that  no  other  city  ever  brought  together  such  an  assemblage  of 
wealthy  and  enterprising  men.  Tadmor  was  then  the  depot 
of  the  only  great  and  rich  trade  in  the  world,  and  there  has  not 


18  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

since  been  a  more  lucrative  one.  And  as  they  could  not,  in  the 
midst  of  a  sandy  desert,  enjoy  the  luxury  of  villas,  parks, 
gardens,  artificial  lakes,  fountains  and  shady  walks,  with 
statuary  and  arbors,  they  could  only  gratify  the  love  which 
opulence  begets  for  display,  in  the  erection  of  superb  and  costly 
edifices.  Hence  those  stupendous  architectural  monuments 
whose  ruins  are  to  this  day  to  be  classed  among  the  wonders 
of  the  world.* 

This  overland  trade  with  India,  once  so  successfully  prose- 
cuted by  the  wise  king  of  Israel,  was  never  abandoned  till  after 
the  discovery  of  a  maritime  passage  to  the  fairy  lands  of  the 
East  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

The  Phenidans  visited  India  at  a  very  early  period,  and  per- 
haps were  the  first  to  introduce  the  rich  produce  of  that 
country  into  Europe.  Theirs  was  an  overland  trade,  carried 
on  by  the  means  of  the  camel,  an  animal  so  admirably  fitted  to 
traverse  deserts  and  support  heat  and  fatigue  as  to  have  got  the 
name  "  ship  of  the  desert."  No  sooner  had  Tvj^e  become  opu- 
lent and  powerful  by  this  traffic,  than  her  neighbors  sought  to 
share  in  the  trade.  The  Persians,  Arabians,  and  Jews,  as  al- 
ready mentioned ;  the  Greeks,  Romans,  and  Egyptians,  each  in 
1  their  turn  participated  largely  in  the  lucrative  traffic  with 
India  —  and  each  in  their  turn  enjoyed  the  rich  monopoly,  and 
became  enriched  and  enfeebled  by  the  luxuries  of  the  East. 
This  was  the  chief  source  of  the  wealth  and  power  of  Venice. 
She  carried  on  the  trade  principally  by  the  aid  of  tha  Moors, 
a  name  applied  generally  to  those  Arabs  who  had  become 
masters  of  the  Ethiopian,  Arabian  and  Indian  Seas.  Genoa 

'and  Florence  were  also  replenished  from  the  East.    From  the 

f  ^ 

*  The?e  ruins  till  recently  remained  unknown.  Near  the  close  of  the  last  century, 
some  gentlemen  of  the  English  factory  at  Aleppo,  incited  by  wonderful  accounts  of 
the  ruins  at  Palmyra,  ventured,  spite  the  dangers  and  fatigue  of  the  journey 
through  the  desert,  to  visit  them.  "A  fertile  ^spot,  of  some  miles  in  extent,  rose 
before  them  like  an  island  out  of  a  vast  plain  of  sand,  covered  with  the  remains  of 
temple,  porticoes,  aqueducts  and  other  public  works,  which,  in  magnificence  and 
splendor,  and  some  of  them  in  elegance,  were  not  unworthy  of  Athens  or  Rome  in 
tlu-ir  most  prosperous  days."  At  present  a  few  miserable  huts  of  beggarly  Arabs 
are  scattered  in  the  courts  of  its  stately  temples,  or  deform  its  elegant  porticoes, 
exhibiting  a  humiliating  contrast  to  its  ancient  magnificence. 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  19 

time  of  Alexander  the  Great  (who  we  shall  see  figures  in  the 
history  of  ancient  India)  to  the  discovery  of  a  passage  by  the 
Cape,  the  chief  seat  of  this  trade  was  Alexandria,  in  Egypt. 
This  became  on  the  southern  route  (by  the  Red  Sea)  what 
Tadmor  was  on  the  northern.  Hither  the  spices,  gums,  aro- 
matics,  silks,  and  precious  stones  of  India  were  brought  by  the 
Red  Sea  to  Bernice,  thence  conveyed  overland  to  the  Mle  and 
re-shipped  to  Alexandria ;  and  from  this  mighty  emporium  of 
Indian  commodities,  distributed  over  Europe. 

These  sketches  suffice  to  show  that  India  was  an  opulent,  old, 
civilized  nation  at  least  3,000  years  ago.  She  had  then  brought 
the  arts  —  and  the  sciences  as  their  bases  —  to  a  state  of  per- 
fection unknown  elsewhere. 

A  moment's  reflection  here  will  give  us  a  stupendous  idea  of 
the  former  wealth  of  India.  Was  there  a  time  in  Judea  when 
gold  was,  for  plenteousness,  as  brass,  and  silver  as  stones,  and 
cedars  as  the  sycamore  tree  —  when  Solomon  made  200  targets 
and  600  shields  of  beaten  gold,  and  a  great  ivory  throne  over- 
laid with  pure  gold,  with  six  steps  and  a  footstool  of  gold  —  all 
whose  drinking  vessels  and  all  the  vessels  of  the  house  of  the 
forest  of  Lebanon  were  of  pure  gold? — none  were  of  silver,  for 
that  was  not  anything  accounted  of  in  the  days  of  Solomon  ? 
It  was  when  the  ships  of  Tarshish,  "  once  in  three  years,"  brought 
home  their  precious  cargoes  from  India — it  was  when  they 
were  "  replenished  from  the  East."  "Was  there  a  time  when 
Tyre  was  the  crowning  city,  whose  merchants  were  princes  and  whose 
traffickers  were  the  honorable  of  the  earth  ?  It  was  when  she  be- 
came the  store-house  of  the  wealth  of  the  Indies.  Whence 
but  from  the  same  fountain,  the  treasures  that  garnished  the 
throne  of  Greece,  or  laid  the  foundation  of  the  wealth  of 
Rome,  or  called  into  existence,  as  in  a  day,  Genoa,  Venice, 
and  Florence,  and  made  them  prosper  and  increase  and  main- 
tain their  independence  amidst  mighty  empires  ?  Whence  did 
the  Portuguese,  the  French  and  the  Dutch  derive  their  greatest 
wealth  ?  And  whence  but  through  their  agents  in  Leaden  Hall 


20  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

street,  have  the  English  that  superabundant  wealth  which 
makes  England  so  proud,  so  mighty  a  nation  ? 

"We  may  trace  the  history  of  ancient  India  through  another 
line.  I  refer  to  conquests.  As  you  may  suppose,  ambition 
early  fixed  his  insatiable  eye  on  such  a  land.  She  early  became, 
and  has  not  ceased  to  be,  an  object  for  conquest  to  all  who 
have  fought  for  the  prize  of  empires. 

It  has  always  been  the  misfortune  of  that  ill-fated  nation  to 
be  visited  only  to  be  fleeced  of  her  wealth.  Till  Decently,  she 
scarcely  arrested  the  attention  of  the  philosopher  or  the  histo- 
rian. So  intent  on  gain  were  the  early  monopolists  of  her  trade, 
that  no  one  stopped  to  tell  us  of  her  manners,  customs,  laws, 
religion  or  literature. 

The  earliest  reputed  conqueror  of  India  was  Sesostris,  an 
Egyptian  king  who  lived  near  3,500  years  ago.  Kext  we  hear 
of  a  famous  attack  on  India  by  Semiramis,  the  celebrated  queen 
of  Assyria  or  Bayblon.  She  spent  three  years  in  preparation  — 
is  said  to  have  led  on  an  army  of  one  million  of  soldiers,  and 
was  met  by  a  force  equally  numerous.  The  king  of  India  —  for 
India  was  then  one  empire  —  met  the  haughty  queen  on  the 
banks  of  the  Indus,  opposed  her  passage,  gave  battle  and  gained 
a  decisive  victory.  Next,  India  is  assailed  and  subdued  by 
Darius,  the  Persian. 

"We  now  come  to  a  period  on  which  the  light  of  history  has 
more  profusely  cast  her  beams.  Alexander,  the  Macedonian  and 
the  conqueror  of  the  world,  turned  his  victorious  arms  towards 
India  327  years  before  Christ.  Fired  by  the  hope  of  gain,  ex- 
cited by  the  success  of  the  Tynans,  he  determined  to  secure  the 
commerce  to  himself.  He  therefore  built  the  town  of  Alexan- 
dria, in  Egypt,  as  a  depot,  and  proceeded  on  his  route  to  India, 
which  had  so  long  been  in  his  eye  the  fairy  land  —  conquered 
Persia  —  traversed  the  wild  regions  of  Central  Asia  —  crossed 
the  Indus  —  encountered  and  overcome  Porus,  a  powerful  Hin- 
doo prince,  with  his  formidable  army  of  Eajpoots  —  overrun 
the  Punjaub,  the  finest  country  in  India.  His  progress  being 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  21 

checked,  both  by  the  periodical  rains  and  the  mutinous  spirit  of 
his  army,  he  was  compelled  to  return  to  Persia. 

Alexander  opened  to  Europe  a  much  more  ample  knowledge 
of  India  than  had  hitherto  been  obtained.  He  had  in  his  army 
and  among  his  principal  officers  men  of  learning  and  research. 
Such  were  Ptolemy,  Aristobulus  and  ITearchus  ;  the  journal  of 
the  latter  only  has  outlived  the  ravages  of  time. 

From  him  we  learn  that  India  was,  at  that  remote  period,  as 
populous,  fertile,  highly  civilized,  and  more  opulent  than  at 
any  time  since ;  and  that  her  manners  and  institutions  were  al- 
most precisely  the  same.  These  suffer  no  change  from  the  lapse 
of  time.  The  people  of  India  neither  know  nor  will  be 
taught  the  meaning  of  the  word  fashion.  Change  in  the  cut 
of  a  coat,  the  form  of  a  dress,  the  shape  of  a  hat  or  the  poise 
of  a  bonnet,  are  unintelligable  terms  to  an  Indian.  All  such 
matters  were  with  him  fixed  by  law,  the  unalterable  law  of 
custom,  thousands  of  years  ago.  Each  caste,  profession  or  em- 
ployment has  its  own,  which  changes  not.  We  have  ample 
proof  of  this  in  the  records  of  Alexander's  invasion.  These 
give  us,  in  substance,  the  following  items  of  information  re- 
specting the  manners,  customs,  dress,  appearance  and  religion 
of  the  people  of  India  more  than  2,000  years  ago  : 

"  They  are  delicate  and  slender  in  form  —  complexion  dark  — 
hair  black  but  uncurled  —  their  garments  principally  of  cotton 

—  live  on  vegetable  food — are  divided  into  sects  and  classes, 
called  castes — marriages  of  mere  children,  and  the  prohibition 
of  marriages  between  different  castes  —  men  wearing  ear-rings 
and  parti-colored  shoes  —  the  custom  of  wives  burning  them- 
selves with  the  bodies  of  their  deceased  husbands."     And  their 
religious  and  social  institutions  were  then  almost  precisely  what 
we  find  them  at  the  present  time.     Each   caste  bound  on  his 
turban  and  wore  his  cloth  in  the  same  manner  —  had  shoes  of 
the  same  shape  —  worshiped  the  same  idols    in  the  same  way 

—  daubed  his  forehead  with  the  same  kind  of  paint  and  with 
the  same  marks  which  the  men  of  his  caste  do  2,000  years  later. 

The  conquests  of  Alexander  were  followed  up  by  Seleucus, 


22  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

one  of  his  successors.  He  advanced  considerably  beyond  the 
limits  of  Alexander's  progress,  and  conciliated  the  sovereign  of 
a  powerful  nation  on  the  Ganges  (Sandracottus),  by  sending  an 
embassador  to  his  court.  This  delicate  task  he  confided  to 
Megasthene,  who,  having  been  in  the  army  of  Alexander,  was 
well  versed  in  a  knowledge  of  the  country.  He  was  the  first 
European  who  traversed  India  in  its  full  breadth  —  the  first 
who  beheld  the  mighty  Ganges.  To  him  we  are  principally 
indebted  for  all  the  knowledge  we  have  of  the  internal  policy 
of  India  in  its  early  history. 

His  hostory  is  valuable  for  the  truth  it  contains,  and  amusing 
from  his  love  of  the  marvelous,  in  which  he  sometimes  indulges. 
He  mingled  with  his  facts  many  extravagant  fictions.  He  tells 
us  of  men  with  ears  so  large  they  could  wrap  themselves  up  in 
them  —  of  men  with  only  one  eye  —  without  mouths  —  without 
noses  —  with  long  feet  —  with  toes  turned  back  —  of  men  only 
three  spans  in  hight  —  of  wild  men  with  heads  in  the  shape 
of  a  wedge  —  of  ants  as  large  as  foxes,  which  dig  up  gold  — 
wool  growing  on  trees  like  fruit  —  and  many  other  things  quite 
as  probable.  Nor  is  it  a  matter  of  great  surprise  that  one  who 
has  penetrated  so  far  beyond  the  goal  of  all  former  travelers 
into  so  extraordinary  a  country,  should  sometimes  trespass  on 
the  credulity  of  his  friends. 

India  was  subject  to  no  further  conquests  from  Europe,  till 
the  invasion  of  the  Portuguese  by  the  way  of  the  Cape,  near 
the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

One  event  during  this  period  considerably  affected  the  com- 
munication between  Europe  and  the  East,  and  wrought  an  im- 
portant and  lasting  change  in  the  commercial  world :  I  mean 
the  introduction  of  silk-worms  into  Europe.  This  happened 
A.  D.  557. 

The  Persians  were  at  this  time  the  rival  power  of  the  Greeks. 
The  use  of  silk,  both  in  dress  and  furniture,  had  become  so 
general  in  the  court  of  the  Greek  emperors  at  Constantinople, 
who  now  imitated  and  surpassed  the  sovereigns  of  Asia  in 
splendor  and  magnificence,  that  it  had  become  with  them  an 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  23 

indispensable  demand.  The  Persians  so  improved  the  advan- 
tages they  enjoyed,  of  being  able  to  cut  off  both  the  caravans 
by  the  northern  route  and  those  by  the  way  of  the  Persian 
Gulf,  as  to  secure  the  monopoly  of  nearly  the  whole  commerce 
to  themselves. 

After  some  fruitless  attempts  to  wrest  this  trade  from  the 
hands  of  his  rival,  Justinian,  the  Greek  emperor,  secured  the 
object  of  his  wishes  in  a  most  unexpected  manner. 

Two  Persian  monks,  employed  as  missionaries  in  the  East, 
penetrate  as  far  as  China.  There  they  observe  the  labors  of 
the  silk-worm,  and  become  acquainted  with  the  skill  of  the 
Chinese  in  manufacturing  the  productions  of  this  wonderful 
little  insect  into  a  great  variety  of  elegant  fabrics.  They  re- 
pair to  Constantinople,  explain  to  the  emperor  the  origin  of 
silk  and  the  various  ways  of  preparing  and  manufacturing  it ; 
mysteries  unknown  or  imperfectly  understood  in  Europe. — 
Encouraged  by  his  liberal  promises,  they  undertook  to  bring  to 
his  capital  a  quantity  of  these  insects ;  which  they  do  by  con- 
veying the  eggs  in  a  hollow  cane.  These  were  hatched,  fed 
with  the  leaves  of  the  wild  mulberry  —  they  multiply  and 
worked  as  in  China.  From  this  small  beginning,  the  culture 
of  silk  spread  over  Europe,  and  diminished  very  considerably 
commerce  with  the  East. 

A  reflection  will  very  naturally  close  this  chapter.  India 
has  from  generation  to  generation  supplied  Christendom  with 
her  luxuries.  From  her  we  have  received  spices,  aromatics,  silks, 
and  the  precious  metals.  As  we  have  received  her  pearls,  have 
we  sent  her  the  "  pearl  of  great  price  ?"  As  we  have  reveled 
in  her  luxuries,  have  we  given  her  "  the  one  thing  needful  ?"  As 
we  have  received  her  odoriferous  gums,  precious  aromatics,  her 
healing  unguents,  have  we  sent  her  in  return  the  Balm  in 
Gilead,  the  oil  of  joy,  the  good  tidings  of  Him  that  cometh 
with  healing  in  his  wings  ? 


24  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

*t 

CHAPTER    II. 

Conquests  of  India  by  the  Mohammedans,  and  the  Empire  of  the  Grf 

THE  next  great  event  was  the  conquest  of  Indih,  by  '«,ha 
Mohammedans.  This  introduces  us  to  the  second  period  of 
Indian  history.  The  first  invasion  by  the  Moslems  took  piac<"« 
about  the  year  1000  A.  D.,  and  perhaps  no  period,  ancient  or 
modern,  is  so  full  of  thrilling  incidents.  Prowess  in  arms, 
extraordinary  military  achievements,  brilliant  conquests,  impe- 
rial magnificence — surpassing  the  glory  of  Babylon  or  Nineveh, 
and  empire  co-extensive  with  all  India — gorgeous  palaces,  tem- 
ples, mosques,  tombs,  aqueducts,  and  every  stupendous  work  of 
art,  salute  the  bewildered  vision  as  we  unroll  the  canvass  of  the 
next  700  years.  No  period  of  history  opens  to  the  reader  a 
wider  or  more  attractive  field. 

"We  here  emerge  from  the  fogs  of  fiction  and  mythology,  and 
hail  the  more  certain  light  of  the  Persian  historian,  Ferishta. 
He  is  regarded  a  faithful  chronicler  of  the  period  of  which  we  are 
now  to  speak. 

But  who  were  those  mighty,  furious  conquerors,  who  came 
down  on  India  like  a  wolf  on  the  fold,  laying  waste  her  thou- 
sand cities,  breaking  down  her  temples,  pillaging  her  treasures, 
carrying  away  her  gold  and  precious  stones,  and  everywhere 
marking  their  course  with  blood?  Such  an  inquiry  leads  ua 
back  a  step. 

The  rise,  and  the  rapid  and  irresistible  progress  of  Moham- 
med, produced  a  complete  revolution  among  the  nations  of  the 
East.  A  new  empire  rose  in  Arabia,  which  was  destined  soon 
to  roll  its  resistless  waves  over  most  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe. 
The  banners  of  the  crescent  waved  amidst  the  hills  of  Spain, 
and  led  a  countless  army  to  victory  among  the  mountains  of 
Independent  Tartary.  The  torrid  regions  of  the  equator  and 
the  frigid  lands  of  the  poles  trembled  beneath  the  mighty  tread 
of  the  Prophet. 


-*••  .„'. 


HUMAYUK. 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  25 

Mohammed  unsheathed  the  sword  and  clothed  himself  with 
the  mystic  power  of  the  Koran  in  the  year  of  the  Christian  era 
622;  designing,  no  doubt,  to  lay  the  foundation  for  universal 
empire.  The  capital  of  this  mighty  dominion,  mighty  not  only 
in  the  vision  of  the  Prophet's  mighty  mind,  but,  within  a  few 
years  from  its  origin,  mighty  in  reality,  was  first  fixed  in  Arabia, 
Thence  it  was  removed  to  Damascus,  and  thence  to  Bagdat, 
whence  for  centuries  went  forth  the  power  of  the  false  Prophet 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

The  califate  extended  as  far  east  as  Independent  Tartary. 
This  country,  though  so  far  distant  from  the  central  power,  was 
early  subjugated  by  Moslem  arms,  and  became  an  important 
province.  The  Tartars  were  rude  and  savage,  roaming  hordes 
of  shepherds  and  warriors,  who  neither  lived  in  houses  nor  culti- 
vated the  ground.  Yet  their  subjugation  to  Bagdat  wrought  in 
them  an  extraordinary  transformation.  They  soon  formed  a 
regular  government,  cultivated  their  large  and  fertile  plains, 
cherished  the  arts,  and  congregated  in  cities.  This  province  was 
the  first  to  break  away  from  the  grand  califate,  and,  after  a  few 
intermediate  steps  of  revolution,  to  form  a  kingdom,  which  soon 
proved  a  powerful  rival  to  Bagdat  itself.  These  brave  Tartars 
first  extended  their  empire  over  Persia,  and  finally  carried  their 
victorious  arms  to  the  very  walls  of  Bagdat,  and  the  vicegerent 
of  the  Prophet,  whose  arm  had  made  the  earth  tremble,  is 
obliged  to  yield  to  the  terms  of  a  Tartar  prince.  Other  prov- 
inces of  Central  Asia  are  added  to  this  new  and  rising  empire. 
The  Afghans,  a  rude,  fierce,  warlike,  athletic  race,  inhabiting  the 
mountainous  regions  between  Persia  and  India,  were  brought 
under  the  same  yoke ;  and  the  city  of  Ghizni,  that  ancient  seat 
of  empire,  which  for  centuries  after  spread  her  broad  mantle 
over  nearly  all  Asia,  was  selected  as  the  capital.  Had  this  selec- 
tion been  made  solely  in  reference  to  the  future  subjugation  of 
India,  it  was  altogether  judicious,  for  it  commanded  the  grand 
entrance  to  India. 

At  this  point  we  shall  do  well  to  pause  a  moment  and  look 
about  us. 


26  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

It  is  the  site  of  magnificent  ruins.  Eight  centuries  ago,  and 
Ghizni  was  already  an  ancient  city  of  barbarous  Afghans ;  then 
suddenly  became  and  remained  for  four  centuries  the  capital  of 
a  proud  and  powerful  empire  —  enriched  and  adorned  by  a  race 
of  princes,  who,  for  wealth,  and  pride,  and  power,  the  world  has 
never  seen  their  like.  Here  the  riches  of  India  were  lavished  in 
all  that  taste  could  devise,  or  passion  desire,  or  luxury  crave. 
But  her  glory  has  long  since  departed;  her  magnificent  piles, 
her  superb  works  of  art,  have  long  been  leveled  with  the  dust ; 
and,  except  some  scattered  masses  of  misshapen  ruins,  not  a 
monument  remains  of  Ghizni's  former  grandeur. 

Though  a  city  among  the  mountains  in  the  interior  of  Persia, 
600  or  700  miles  from  the  sea  coast,  Ghizni  was  the  radiating 
point  of  that  military  glory  which  shone  over  all  Asia  —  the 
centre  of  a  power  which  soon  found  all  Hindoostan  too  straight 
to  contain  it. 

This  empire,  destined  in  coming  years  to  play  so  conspicuous 
a  part  in  the  affairs  of  Asia,  became  consolidated  in  the  reign  of 
Mahmoud,  who  mounted  the  throne  of  Ghizni  in  the  year  A.  D. 
997.  He  was  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  characters  that  ever 
ruled  in  Asia,  or,  indeed,  that  figures  in  the  annals  of  conquerors. 
His  empire,  called  the  Ghiznian,  afterwards  the  Patan  or  Af- 
ghan, was  made  up  of  a  confederacy  of  Tartars,  Usbecks, 
Afghans,  Persians,  and  all  the  fierce,  hardy,  warlike  tribes  that 
inhabited  the  mountains  of  Central  Asia.  Its  importance  in 
Asia  was  like  that  of  Turkey  at  present  in  Europe.  Aware  of 
this,  the  British  government  have  not  deemed  their  vast  domin- 
ions in  the  East  safe  from  invasion  till  they  had  secured  this 
ancient  key-stone  to  the  arch  of  empire. 

For  wealth,  splendor,  and  power,  it  had  rivaled  imperial 
Bagdat,  and  for  the  tombs  of  its  many  saints  it  had  acquired  a 
sanctity  scarcely  inferior  to  the  holy  Medina.  It  was  the  tower 
from  which  the  fierce  Moslems  descended  twelve  times  to  ravage 
the  plains  of  India — from  which,  in  succeeding  ages,  host  after 
host  poured  streams  of  desolation  over  the  fertile  plains  of  Hin- 
doostan. But  the  gleam  of  the  British  bayonet  struck  terror  in  the 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  27 

heart  of  the  present  degenerate  race  of  Ghizni,  and  in  a  few 
days  the  uncircumcised  feet  of  a  foreign  foe  tread  on  the  mar- 
ble pavements  and  the  dilapidated  mosaics  of  Moslem  grand- 
eur, and  the  British  flag  waves  on  the  falling  walls  of  Ghizni. 
'  It  was  in  the  year  1000  that  Mahmoud  made  his  descent  on 
India.  Ostensibly,  he  was  actuated  by  an  indomitable  zeal  to 
extend  the  Mohammedan  faith;  really,  by  an  unconquerable 
love  of  glory  and  wealth.  Having  made  a  vow  to  heaven  that 
if  ever  he  should  be  left  to  tranquility  in  his  own  dominions  he 
would  turn  his  arms  against  the  idolaters  of  Hindoostan,  he  set 
out  with  10,000  of  his  chosen  horse,  encountered  Jeipal,  king  of 
Lahore,  supported  by  an  army  four  times  his  number,  joined 
battle,  and  was  victorious.  Mahmoud  returned,  inflated  with 
glory  and  laden  with  immense  wealth.  For,  apart  from  the  or- 
dinary booty,  there  were  about  the  neck  of  the  conquered  rajah, 
sixteen  strings  of  jewels,  each  of  which  was  valued  at  180,000 
rupees— the  whole  equal  to  £800,000,  or  $1,500,000. 

In  four  successive  expeditions,  the  work  of  subjugation  went 
on,  former  conquests  were  secured,  rebellions  quelled,  tribute 
collected,  many  a  bloody  battle  fought,  and  stupendous  wealth 
borne  away.  The  siege  of  Birne  is  too  notable  to  be  slightly 
passed  over.  The  conqueror  directed  his  steps  to  this  celebrated 
fort,  breaking  down  idols,  destroying  temples,  and  spreading 
desolation  wherever  he  went.  Birne  was  built,  as  is  common  in 
India,  on  the  top  of  a  high  hill ;  and  here  the  Hindoos  had,  on 
account  of  its  strength,  deposited  the  wealth  consecrated  to  their 
idols  in  all  the  neighboring  provinces.  There  is  said  to  have 
been  a  greater  quantity  of  silver,  gold,  precious  stones,  and 
pearls,  than  the  royal  treasure  of  any  prince  on  earth  had  pos- 
sessed. The  garrison  having  been  drawn  into  the  open  field, 
the  defenseless  fortress  fell  an  easy  prey. 

This  mighty  contender  for  the  "faith,"  returned  to  Ghizni 
ladened  with  700,000  golden  dinars,  700  maunds  of  gold  and 
silver  plate,  (each  maund  at  least  28  pounds,)  40  maunds  of  pure 
gold  in  ingots,  2000  maunds  of  silver  bullion,  and  20  maunds  of 
various  jewels,  and  prepared  a  magnificent  feast,  at  which  he 


28  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

displayed  his  wealth  in  golden  thrones  and  other  rich  ornaments. 
The  whole  was  arrayed  in  a  great  plain  without  the  city  of 
Ghizni;  and  after  the  feast  princely  presents  were  distributed  to 
the  multitude. 

Entrenched  in  his  native  mountains,  where  he  shone  in  gold, 
and  his  palaces  sparkled  with  the  richest  profusion  of  gems  ever 
brought  together,  he  pounced  like  a  tiger  on  his  prey,  and  bore 
his  rich  booty  back  to  his  strong  domains.  He  flew  from  fort  to 
fort,  from  one  temple  to  another,  robbed  them  of  their  treasures, 
demolished  their  strongholds,  put  the  inhabitants  under  trib- 
ute, while,  like  a  fiery  meteor,  he  rolled  his  terrific  car  onward. 
Delhi  fell  before  him ;  the  beautiful  valley  of  Cashmere  yielded  to 
the  invading  spears  of  the  conqueror,  and  city  after  city  opened 
their  gates  to  the  fierce  Moslem.  At  the  head  of  an  immense 
army  of  his  favorite  Tartars,  he  attacked  Kanouge,  one  of  the 
most  renowned  capitals  of  India.  Oriental  writers  give  the 
most  glowing  and  extravagant  account  of  the  wealth,  the  splen- 
dor, and  luxury  of  this  ancient  city.  It  could  present  no  effect- 
ual resistance  to  the  Afghan  bands  of  Mahmoud;  yet,  after 
three  days,  he  was  prepared  for  new  prey.  Having  conquered 
several  other  places  on  the  Ganges,  where  he  now  was,  he  heard 
of  the  wealth  and  fame  of  the  holy  city  of  Muttra,  situated  on 
the  Jumna.  Thither  he  turned  his  victorious  spears,  and,  with 
little  opposition,  he  found  its  treasures  at  his  feet.  Its  temples, 
more  splendid  than  he  had  yet  seen,  were  filled  with  gigantic 
idols  of  pure  gold,  having  eyes  of  rubies,  and  one  had  in  it  a 
sapphire  of  enormous  size.  Besides  these,  there  were  found,  says 
Ferishta,  one  hundred  idols  of  silver,  which  loaded  a  hundred 
camels  with  bullion. 

The  last  and  most  celebrated  expedition  which  Mahmoud 
made  into  India,  was  undertaken  in  the  year  1024.  He  now 
directed  his  arms  towards  the  rich  and  fertile  country  of  Guz- 
erat.  The  object  toward  which  his  avarice  and  ambition  was 
now  turned,  was  the  famous  temple  of  Samnaut,  on  the  shore  of 
the  Indian  Ocean.  This  was  the  richest  shrine  in  India ;  and  so 
strongly  fortified,  and  so  stoutly  defended  was  it,  that  it  nearly 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  29 

cost  the  conqueror  a  complete  defeat.  The  details  possess  much 
interest,  but  cannot  be  given  at  length. 

Never  had  the  brave  Tartar  contested  a  battle  so  severely.  He 
fought  two  days,  but  without  success.  The  attack  was  renewed 
on  the  third,  and  now  were  the  Moslems  near  being  overpow- 
ered, when  Mahmoud,  in  person,  appealed  to  the  religious  zeal 
of  his  troops,  leaped  from  his  horse  in  the  midst  of  the  conflict, 
and  implored,  on  his  knees,  aid  from  heaven  in  his  attempt  to 
destroy  the  infidels,  and  earnestly  called  on  his  chiefs  to  advance 
to  martyrdom  or  conquest.  The  victory  was  theirs ;  and  soon 
the  brave  Tartar  stood  before  the  giant  god,  beating  him  to 
pieces  with  his  own  hands.  The  Brahmuns  at  this  moment 
rushed  forward  with  a  petition,  backed  with  several  crores  (tens 
of  millions)  of  rupees,  that  he  would  desist.  But  the  idol,  he 
said,  was  his,  and  he  chose  rather  to  be  a  breaker  than  a  seller  of 
idols.  The  next  blow  he  struck  opened  the  interior  of  the 
image,  which,  to  his  astonishment,  had  been  left  hollow,  that  it 
might  serve  as  the  secret  depository  of  the  wealth  of  the  temple. 
Out  poured  pearls,  rubies,  and  diamonds,  to  an  amount  far  ex- 
ceeding in  value  the  sum  offered  for  its  preservation. 

Such  was  the  introduction  of  Mohammedanism  and  of  the 
Mohammedan  powers  in  India.  They  came,  they  saw,  they  con- 
quered. Nothing  in  modern  times  has  equaled  the  ferocity  and 
desperation  of  the  first  Mohammedan  conquests  in  India.  Urged 
on  by  a  mad  enthusiasm,  intoxicated  with  the  hope  of  rich 
booty,  and  inspired  with  the  promise  of  beatitude  in  pardise,  if 
they  died  fighting  with  infidels,  they  pounced  like  tigers  on  their 
prey.  A  fertile  country  was  left  desolate;  flourishing  cities, 
heaps  of  ruins ;  and  rivers,  sacred  to  their  fathers,  flowed  with 
the  blood  of  their  countrymen ;  palaces  were  burnt,  temples  pil- 
laged, and  the  public  works  of  ages  destroyed  in  a  day.  Suffice 
it  to  say,  the  Moslems  were  soon  the  lords  of  the  land,  and 
despots  over  the  unoffending  Hindoos.  The  mosque  was  reared 
on  the  ruins  of  the  temple ;  the  crescent  waved  in  the  place  of 
well-known  banners  of  their  native  land;  Islamism  became 
their  national  religion,  and  the  only  road  to  place  and  prefer- 


30  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

ment.  The  Hindoos  from  this  hour  became  bondmen  and 
slaves  to  foreign  masters.  ^Their  chains  have  been  riveted  on 
them,  by  a  succession  of  conquerors,  till  freedom,  patriotism, 
and  national  virtue  have  quite  disappeared  from  the  land.  But 
all  the  calamities  which  were  so  unsparingly  inflicted  by  the 
infuriated  zeal  of  the  Moslems,  was  but  the  beginning  of 
sorrow  to  the  devoted  Hindoo.  These  were  but  the  commence- 
ment of  a  series  of  wars  and  rapines,  which  were  to  lay  waste 
the  land,  impoverish  the  country,  and  drive  to  the  verge  of  des- 
peration a  once  prosperous  and  comparatively  happy  people. 
The  carcass  had  begun  to  be  torn,  and  now  new  nights  of  birds 
of  prey  and  passage  were  attracted  from  the  west.  Soon  they  were 
seen  hovering  over  their  prey.  The  Portuguese,  the  Dutch,  the 
French,  and  the  English  have  all  in  their  turn  satiated  their 
rapacity  on  the  unoffending  natives  of  India. 

Mahmoud  dies — but  not  so  the  Mohammedan  power  in  India. 
The  Ghiznian  Empire  falls  into  decay,  or,  rather,  is  transferred  to 
the  east  of  the  Indus,  where  it  struck  deeper  its  roots  and  spread 
wider  its  branches.  Delhi  became  the  seat  of  empire,  and  for 
seven  centuries  remained  the  capital  of  Moslem  power  in  Hin- 
doostan. 

The  work  of  conquest  went  on,  kings  were  made  and  un- 
made, rebellions  rose  and  were  quelled,  new  territories  in  Ben- 
gal and  the  Deckan  were  acquired,  and  all  the  vicissitudes  of  a 
great  empire  transpiring ;  but  we  must  pass  these  in  silence. 

The  conquest  of  the  Deckan,  or  southern  portion  of  Hin- 
doostan,  and  the  establishment  there  of  Mohammedan  power,  is 
too  characteristic  of  the  times,  and  the  conquerors,  and  of  their 
government,  not  to  be  allowed  a  passing  notice. 

The  Moslems  first  turned  their  hostile  spears  towards  the 
Deckan  in  the  year  1292,  led  on  by  the  brave  Alia,  nephew  of 
the  emperor.  Hitherto  the  Deckan  had  suffered  little  from  their 
northern  invaders.  It  had  enjoyed  an  independent  government, 
the  capital  of  which  was  Deoghire,  now  known  as  Dawlatabad, 
which  means  the  depository  of  riches.  This  is  an  immensely 
stronghold,  on  the  top  of  a  hill  several  hundred  feet  high,  the 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  31 

only  entrance  to  which  is  by  an  underground  passage,  excavated 
in  the  solid  rock,  and  secured  at  different  distances  by  iron  gates, 
in  the  inside  of  which  were  kept  in  readiness  large  piles  of  dried 
fuel,  that,  in  case  of  the  approach  of  an  enemy,  the  wood  might 
be  piled  against  the  gates  and  fired,  and  the  assailants  given  a 
warm  reception. 

\  Ramdeo  was,  at  the  time  of  the  invasion,  the  reigning  prince. 
The  character  of  the  contending  parties,  the  wealth  and  weak- 
ness of  the  Hindoos,  and  the  rapaciousness  and  cruelty  of  the 
Mohammedans,  are  too  strongly  marked  in  this  invasion  not  to 
be  noticed. 

The  arms  of  the  Mohammedans  had  now  for  more  than  two 
centuries  been  victorious  in  Hindoostan.  The  terror  of  their 
approach  struck  a  panic  in  every  heart.  The  rumor  of  an  ad- 
vancing army  reached  the  capital  of  Ramdeo,  and  Alia,  with  a 
numerous  host,  was  besieging  the  supposed  impregnable  fortress. 
Resistance  was  vain,  and  the  panic-struck  prince  offered  terms. 
Alia  accepts  fifty  maunds  of  pure  gold,  a  large  quantity  of  pearls 
and  jewels,  fifty  elephants,  and  one  thousand  horses.  On  these 
conditions  he  retreats.  But  the  son  of  Ramdeo,  returning  at 
this  time  with  an  army  to  the  capital,  attacks  the  retreating  foe, 
without  the  order  or  knowledge  of  his  father.  Enraged  at  this 
supposed  perfidy,  the  Tartars  give  battle  to  the  idolaters,  dis- 
perse them  with  great  slaughter,  and  will  not  now  stay  the  work 
of  destruction,  or  spare  the  kingdom,  but  on  the  following 
almost  incredible  conditions :  That  Alia  should  receive,  on  evac- 
uating the  country,  six  hundred  maunds  of  pure  gold,  seven 
maunds  of  pearls,  two  maunds  of  diamonds,  rubies,  emeralds  and 
sapphires ;  a  thousand  maunds  of  silver,  four  thousand  pieces  of 
Bilk,  and  a  long  list  of  other  precious  commodities,  which  sur- 
pass all  belief,  together  with  the  cession  of  Elichpoor  and  its 
dependencies.  Laden  with  this  rich  booty,  Alia  returned,  mur- 
dered his  emperor,  Ferose  II.,  who  had  come  to  pay  him  a 
friendly  visit,  and  assumed  the  royal  umbrella. 

Here  I  must  be  indulged  in  a  short  digression,  for  the  sake  of 
delineating  more  fully  the  character  of  this  extraordinary  man. 


32  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

Alia  mounts  the  throne  of  Delhi  in  1295 ;  is  twice  invaded  by 
the  Moguls ;  meets  them  with  an  army  of  300,000  horse  and 
2700  elephants;  repulses  them  with  great  slaughter;  forms  the 
plan  of  establishing  a  new  religion,  that,  by  a  union  of  Moham- 
medanism and  idolatry,  it  might  be  made  universal.  He  also 
devises  a  scheme  for  universal  conquest  and  empire ;  but  is  dis- 
suaded from  both  these  visionary  plans  by  the  sage  Alia  ul  Mu- 
luck.  When  he  mounted  the  throne,  he  could  neither  read  nor 
write ;  yet  he  was  the  constant  and  beneficent  friend  of  literature 
and  science,  patronized  men  of  letters,  and,  while  on  the  impe- 
rial throne  of  the  East,  himself  took  lessons  in  the  first  elements 
of  learning. 

Becoming  alarmed  for  the  stability  of  his  vast  empire,  on 
account  of  frequent  conspiracies  and  insurrections,  he  demanded 
of  his  Omrahs  (nobles)  the  cause  of  the  prevailing  disorders. 
They  declared  that  they  believed  the  public  use  of  wine  and 
strong  drink — which  had,  contrary  to  the  religious  practice  of 
Moslems,  been  introduced  among  the  rulers  and  people — to  be  the 
fruitful  source  of  these  disorders ;  "  for,"  said  they,  "  when  men 
form  themselves  into  societies,  for  the  purpose  of  drinking,  their 
minds  are  disclosed  to  one  another,  while  the  strength  of  the 
liquor,  fermenting  their  blood,  precipitates  them  into  the  most 
desperate  undertakings."  He  then  published  an  edict  against 
the  use  of  wine  and  strong  liquors,  upon  pain  of  death.  He 
himself  set  the  example  to  his  subjects,  and  emptied  his  cellars 
into  the  streets.  In  this,  says  the  historian,  he  was  followed  by 
all  ranks  of  people,  so  that  for  some  days  the  common  sewers 
flowed  with  wine.  He  endeavored  to  equalize  property  by  laying 
taxes  on  the  rich.  His  pomp,  wealth,  and  power  was  never 
equaled  by  any  prince  in  Hindoostan ;  his  household  servants 
were  17,000.  In  one  day  he  massacred  in  the  streets  of  Delhi 
15,000  Mogul  slaves.  He  is,  perhaps,  but  a  fair  specimen  of  the 
first  conquerors  of  India.  Their  character  presents  an  extraor- 
dinary compound  of  the  brave,  the  savage,  the  noble,  the  cruel, 
the  generous,  the  avaricious,  the  devout,  the  profane. 

Now  follow  a  succession  of  emperors,  who  make  some  con- 


3  f£*M 

x  :-^:i£ 


f» 

.'.»^ 


TAMERLANE. 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 


quests — suppress  rebellions — build  palaces  and  mosques — found 
cities  and  overthrow  those  that  others  have  founded  —  die  by 
assassination ;  and  their  successors,  as  perhaps  they  did,  wade  to 
the  throne  through  the  blood  of  rival  brothers  and  kindred. 

The  Patan  or  Afghan  Empire  prospered,  with  such  vicissitudes 
of  fortune  as  all  despotisms  are  subject  to,  until  the  year  1397, 
when  it  encountered  one  of  those  mighty  convulsions  which 
shake  empires  to  their  foundation,  and,  perhaps,  out  of  their 
ruins  erect  others  more  powerful  and  magnificent.  I  refer  to 
the  conquest  of  India  by  Timour  Bey,  more  familiarly  known  by 
the  name  of  Tamerlane. 

The  Moslem  throne  had  trembled  at  the  passing  by  of  the  con- 
quering car  of  Ghengis  £3ian,  more  than  a  century  and  a  half 
before.  That  fearful  destroyer,  who  had  extended  his  empire  from 
China  to  the  centre  of  Europe,  was  too  intent  on  other  prey  to 
seize  on  India.  His  power  was  felt,  but  rather  as  a  reflex  influ- 
ence than  in  its  direct  terror.  The  waters  of  all  Asia  were  dis- 
turbed, yet  India  only  felt  the  power  of  the  receding  wave. 

But  not  so  with  Tamerlane.  Of  the  same  Mogul  stock,  and  a 
remote  descendant  of  Ghengis,  he  rose  from  a  small  beginning 
till  he  aspired  to  nothing  short  of  universal  empire.  Having 
subjugated  a  great  part  of  Asia,  and  spread  the  terror  of  his 
name  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  he  made  his  fearful  descent  on 
Hindoostan  in  the  year  1397.  This  invasion  seems  to  have  been 
wholly  unprovoked,  and  undertaken  for  no  other  purpose  than  a 
love  of  conquest.  Wherever  he  came  on  his  route,  his  march 
was  marked  with  devastation  and  blood.  Having  captured,  on 
his  way  to  Delhi,  the  city  and  fort  of  Batnier,  he  ordered  the 
execution  of  500  of  the  principal  captives,  and  committed  such 
atrocities  as  to  drive  the  Hindoos  into  a  frenzy  of  desperation. 
They  set  fire  to  the  fortress  over  their  own  heads,  killed  their 
own  wives  and  children,  then  rushed  forth  on  their  besiegers,  to 
sell  their  lives  as  dear  as  possible.  Every  individual  perished ; 
yet  not  till  thousands  of  the  Moguls  had  fallen  by  their  hands. 
This  so  exasperated  Tamerlane,  that  he  ordered  the  general  mas- 
sacre of  the  whole  population. 
3 


34  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

He  now  prepared  for  the  grand  design  of  his  invasion — the 
capture  of  Delhi.  All  was  terror  before  him ;  all  was  devasta- 
tion behind  him.  Finding  himself  encumbered  with  an  enor- 
mous multitude  of  captives,  he  issued  the  bloody  mandate  for  a 
general  butchery,  and  100,000  were  put  to  death  at  a  single  time. 

Delhi  fell  before  him.  The  emperor,  after  a  weak  and  ineffec- 
tual resistance,  fled  to  Guzerat,  and  Timour  remained  master  of 
his  capital.  The  city  was  given  up  to  a  general  pillage ;  and  to 
such  desperation  were  the  inhabitants  of  this  great  and  rich  me- 
tropolis driven,  that,  having  dispatched  their  wives  and  children, 
they  rushed  on  the  deadly  spears  of  the  foe.  The  streets  of 
Delhi  streamed  with  blood;  and  the  unresisting  natives  were 
doomed  to  death,  or  a  miserable  captivity. 

Thus  rolled  this  burning  meteor  over  India,  spreading  conster- 
nation and  ruin  on  every  side,  till  intelligence  reached  him  of 
the  movements  of  the  Sultan  of  the  Ottoman  Empire  against 
him,  when  he  recrossed  the  Indus,  and  hastened  to  other  prey. 

It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  this  great  conqueror  was  at 
no  pains  to  secure  his  vast  conquest.  He  established  no  domin- 
ion in  India ;  and  his  whole  vast  empire,  embracing  nearly  all  of 
Asia,  was  soon  dissolved  into  its  original  elements.  In  the  mean 
time,  India  was  restoring  itself  from  the  terrible  shock  of  the 
Mogul ;  and  its  government  revived  again  at  Delhi  in  the  hands 
of  the  same  dynasty. 

Though  Mogul  power  had  been  so  awfully  exemplified,  yet  no 
Mogul  sat  on  the  throne  of  India  for  nearly  200  years.  The 
first  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Timour,  of  the  fifth  generation, 
by  the  name  of  Baber.  Oriental  history  scarcely  presents  a  char- 
acter of  so  varied  fortune,  or  thrilling  interest.  From  being  the 
petty  prince  of  a  small  mountain  territory,  he  became  master  of 
a  great  part  of  Asia,  and  finally,  by  the  force  of  his  arms,  seated 
himself  on  the  throne  of  Delhi,  in  the  year  1525.  Here  com- 
menced the  empire  of  the  Great  Moguls,  which  existed  in  all  its 
oriental  magnificence  till  undermined  and  diminished,  and  finally 
overthrown,  by  the  irresistible  conquests  of  the  British  rulers  of 
India. 


*T'-V  ' 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  35 

They  were  an  illustrious  line  of  emperors  —  some  for  war  and 
conquest — some  for  the  erection  of  palaces  and  public  buildings 
—  some  for  the  promotion  of  learning  and  good  government. 
One  distinguished  his  reign  by  extending  a  road  for  travelers 
from  the  Ganges  to  the  Indus  —  a  distance  of  3000  miles.  It 
was  bordered  by  fruit  trees  on  either  side,  supplied  with  caravan- 
saries at  every  stage,  and  with  a  well  of  water  every  two  miles ; 
and  travelers  were  accommodated  at  public  expense. 

Acbur,  who  received,  and,  more  than  any  one  perhaps  that  ever 
mounted  the  throne  of  Delhi,  deserved,  the  name  of  "  Great," 
commenced  a  prosperous  reign  of  fifty-one  years  in  the  year 
1556.  His  reign  is  spoken  of  as  marked  with  much  justice  and 
lenity.  A  scholar  himself,  he  patronized  learned  men  at  his 
court.  Having  heard  of  the  introduction  into  the  southern  part 
of  India  of  a  new  religion  called  Christianity,  he  expressed  a 
wish  to  be  made  acquainted  with  it,  and  accordingly  three  mis- 
sionaries were  requested  to  come  from  Goa  to  the  Mogul  court 
for  this  purpose.  The  emperor  received  them  with  all  honor — 
treated  them  courteously —  examined  their  books,  which,  by  his 
request,  they  had  brought — entertained  them  for  fifteen  years, 
and  gave  them  full  permission  to  hold  public  controversy  with 
the  Mollahs  or  Mohammedan  doctors.  Though  he  did  not 
answer  the  hopes  at  first  raised,  that  he  might  embrace  the  new 
religion,  yet,  in  two  other  instances,  he  renewed  his  request  for 
Christian  missionaries  to  reside  at  his  court.  They  did  little 
more  than,  at  each  time,  to  present  him  with  a  splendid  cross 
and  the  image  of  their  lady. 

Prince  Selim,  the  son  of  Acbur,  succeeded  to  the  throne,  with 
the  high-sounding  title  of  Jehanghire,  or  conqueror  of  the  world. 
.  Jehanghire  commenced  his  reign  in  crime.  His  affections  had 
been  engaged  in  behalf  of  a  young  Tartar  girl,  whom  his  noble 
father  had  refused  him,  because  she  was  betrothed  to  another. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  poor,  though  noble,  parents;  born  in  a 
lonely  desert,  as  they  were  on  their  way  from  Tartary  to  seek 
their  fortune  in  Hindoostan.  The  family  had  risen,  were  intro- 
duced at  court,  and  now  sharing  the  royal  favor.  N"o  sooner 


36  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

had  Selim  become  Jehanghire,  than  he  adopted  the  most  bar- 
barous measures  to  persecute  unto  death  the  noble  spouse  of  this 
beautiful  flower  of  the  desert.  The  gallant  officer,  now  her  hus- 
band, fell,  after  many  a  noble  fight,  by  the  hand  of  forty  armed 
ruffians,  and  Mher  ul  Nissa  (the  sun  of  women),  or  Noor  Ma- 
hal, as  afterward  called,  was  borne  in  triumph  to  the  emperor. 
She  finally  became  a  favorite  queen  of  the  emperor,  ruled  him 
and  his  empire  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  was 
the  most  extraordinary  woman  ever  known  in  Asia. 

The  story  is  long  and  captivating,  and  in  some  of  its  incidents 
more  like  a  fairy  tale  than  a  reality  in  human  life.  But  my 
limits  are  too  narrow  for  its  detail. 

This  reign  was  also  distinguished  by  the  arrival  of  the  first 
English  embassadors  to  negotiate  the  opening  of  a  trade  with 
India,  which  was  the  entering  wedge  to  that  extensive  commerce 
and  stupendous  empire  which  now  spreads  over  the  whole  of 
Hindoostan. 

During  the  reign  of  Jehanghire,  the  Deckan  remained  his 
tributary — half  subdued,  half  independent,  but  always  rebeUious. 
The  complete  subjugation  of  the  country,  however,  was  left  for 
that  extraordinary  character  in  Indian  history,  Aurungzebe.  He, 
the  last  of  his  illustrious  race,  was  the  "  Great  Mogul,"  who  sat 
on  the  throne  of  Delhi  when  the  "  East  India  Company "  com- 
menced their  career  in  Hindoostan,  and  who  is  so  often  men- 
tioned in  the  early  history  of  British  India.  He  was  the  great- 
grandson  of  Acbur,  and  the  son  and  successor  of  the  emperor 
Shah  Jehan.  He  is  known,  also,  in  history,  by  the  title  of  Al- 
lumghire,  conqueror  of  the  world.*  He  is,  as  I  said,  called  great ; 
and  so  he  was — great  in  war,  great  in  council,  great  in  his  pre- 
tensions to  devotion,  great  in  wading  through  the  blood  of  his 
family  to  the  throne,  and  greatest  of  all  in  duplicity,  dissimula- 
tion and  hypocrisy.  He  commenced  his  public  career,  when  only 
thirteen  years  old,  as  viceroy  of  the  Deckan,  under  Shah  Jehan, 

*  Shah  Jehan  means  king  of  the  world — Jehanghire,  lord  of  the  world.  Orna- 
ment of  the  world,  sun  of  women,  light  of  the  seraglio,  are  terms  of  respect  applied 
to  honorable  females. 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  37 

his  father.  The  different  provinces  were  now  subdued,  and 
brought  under  a  more  complete  subjection  than  had  been  done  in 
any  former  reign.  The  capital  was,  in  1634,  transferred  from 
Dawlatabad  to  the  neighboring  town  of  G-urka,  which,  becoming 
the  favorite  residence  of  Aurungzebe,  during  his  viceroyalty  in 
the  Deckan,  received  the  name  of  Aurungabad. 

During  the  long  and  prosperous  reign  of  Aurungzebe  at  Del- 
hi, which  continued  fifty  years,  and  concluded  with  his  death  in 
1707,  the  Deckan  remained  a  province  of  his  vast  empire.  A 
formidable  power  was  now  rising  in  western  India,  which,  during 
the  last  years  of  his  reign,  occupied  all  his  resources,  and  could 
only  be  kept  in  check  by  his  extraordinary  mind.  The  Mahra- 
thas,  a  people  comparatively  of  recent  origin,  and  known  only  as 
pirates  on  the  coast,  or  marauding  tribes  in  the  interior,  gave  him 
great  trouble.  Although  overawed  till  the  death  of  Aurungzebe, 
they  then  seized  on  most  of  the  southern  portions  of  his  domin- 
ions, and  set  up  a  new  empire  in  the  western  provinces  of  the 
Deckan.  Nizam  ul  Mnluck  took  the  eastern  portion,  which  is 
still  held  by  his  successors. 

Sewajee,  a  name  well  known  in  Indian  history,  was  the  first 
who  consolidated  the  Mahratha  empire,  by  combining  the  efforts 
of  the  different  military  and  predatory  chiefs.  He  was  born  in 
1626,  and  died  in  1680.  The  Mahrathas  very  soon  became  pos- 
sessed of  the  most  formidable  empire  in  India.  In  the  year  1740, 
we  find  them  in  possession  of  the  whole  of  the  Deckan,  and  of 
the  south  of  India.  Their  dominions,  eastward,  were  bounded  by 
the  sea,  and  stretched  north  and  south  from  Agra  to  Cape  Como- 
rin.  They  had  ransacked  and  burnt  Delhi,  the  capital  of  the 
Mogul  Empire.  The  conquests  of  the  Mahrathas  were  of  the 
worst  possible  character.  They  never  lost  their  predatory  habits. 
They  acted  the  part  of  robbers — not  of  conquerors — who  over- 
came, not  to  aggrandize  themselves  by  possession,  but  to  enrich 
themselves  by  plunder.  They  swept  over  the  country  like  de- 
vouring locusts ;  they  conquered,  massacred,  plundered,  burnt, 
and  only  left  behind  them  the  most  dreary  desolation.  Their 
empire,  though  for  sometime  formidable,  and  at  different  periods 


38  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

extensive,  continued  to  wane  till  its  final  overthow  by  the  English, 
in  1817. 

I  have  given  only  the  outlines  of  a  history,  which  it  would  re- 
quire some  volumes  to  fill  up.  But  this  is  sufficient  for  my  pres- 
ent purpose.  The  predatory  spirit  of  the  Mahrathas  is  now 
broken.  They  are  a  peaceable,  inoffensive  people.  Though  many 
of  the  chiefs  of  their  tribes  are  still  living,  and  possessed  of  their 
hereditary  estates,  there  seems  no  apprehension  of  a  revolt.  Tho 
•  people  in  general  are  extremely  poor.  The  cultivators  are  hard 
working  and  industrious,  and  appear  to  be  possessed  of  some 
integrity.  Still,  indolence,  the  hereditary  disease  of  the  Hindoo, 
characterizes  the  majority  of  the  people.  The  higher  orders  of 
the  people  are  daily  sinking  in  importance.  Their  hereditary 
possessions  are  wasting  away  without  the  hope  of  recovery.  The 
Brahmuns  are  struggling  to  maintain  their  superiority,  but  in 
vain.  Blind  as  the  people  are  to  their  gross  impositions,  and  cor- 
rupt as  is  the  character  of  their  priests,  and  slow  as  the  multitude 
are  to  learn  from  foreigners  a  lesson  which  they  ought  to  have 
known  long  ago  without  teaching,  they  seem  not  unlikely  to  be 
compelled,  by  their  poverty,  and  the  many  ills  which  they  suffer, 
to  throw  off  a  yoke  which  has  galled  their  race  from  time  imme- 
morial. The  Brahmuns  in  their  turn  complain  of  the  degeneracy 
of  the  times,  and  long  for,  but  despair  of,  the  return  of  that 
"golden  age"  when  the  poor  Hindoo  thought  it  an  honor  to  kiss 
the  dust  of  his  feet,  and  would  not  pass  him  without  an  offering. 
If  craftiness,  address  and  consummate  management  could  extort 
money,  (where  one  would  suppose  none  was  to  be  had,)  the  Brah- 
mun  might  still  be  pampered  on  the  hard-earned  pittance  of  the 
poor ;  or  if  pride,  and  high  pretensions  to  sanctity,  and  unblush- 
ing claims  to  divinity,  could  insure  the  respect  and  adoration  of 
the  unthinking  multitude,  the  Brahmun  would  not  fail  to  bo  hon- 
ored and  adored,  as  he  was  wont  to  be  in  the  golden  age.  God 
grant  that  the  unhallowed  spell  may  soon  be  broken  —  that  the 
pride  of  the  one,  and  the  blind  superstition  of  the  other,  may  be 
forgotten  in  that  universal  benevolence,  which  breathes  peace  and 
good  will  to  all. 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  39 

Of  the  European  nations  who  have  shared  in  the  plunder  of 
India,  and  who  have,  and  who  still  hold  possessions  there,  the 
English  are  hy  far  the  most  prominent.  The  power  of  the  other 
European  nations  has  long  since  been  on  the  wane,  and  is  now 
reduced  to  the  government  of  a  few  small  provinces.  I  avoid 
entering  into  any  detail  of  the  means  which  have  been  'adopted 
by  these  several  nations  to  gain  possessions  in  India.  The  his- 
tory "  of  their  unparalleled  crimes,  violated  treaties,  bloodshed, 
treachery  and  devastation,"  will  stand  recorded  in  the  book  of 
God's  unerring  memory,  and  cannot  fail  to  be  made  manifest  in 
the  day  of  divine  retribution. 

The  dominion  of  the  English  extends  from  the  Indus  to  China, 
and  from  the  Himalaya  mountains  to  Cape  Comorin.  Within 
these  extended  boundaries,  there  are,  it  is  true,  several  nations 
who  fancy  themselves  independent,  and  they  are  said  to  be  so. 
Some  of  these  are  termed  allies,  some  independent,  and  others  de- 
pendent states.  But  they  differ  very  little,  except  in  name,  and  in 
the  degree  of  their  dependence.  They  are  directly  or  indirectly 
subservient  to  the  East  India  Company.  Let  them  but  act  as  if 
they  were  independent  states,  and  they  would  soon  awake  from  their 
pleasant  delusion.  "We  have  a  specimen  of  their  real  condition 
in  the  case  of  the  Rajah  of  Sattara.*  He  fancies  himself  an 
independent  prince ;  has  an  English  Resident  placed  at  his  capi- 
tal; is  required  to  keep  up  a  specified  military  force,  to  be 
officered  by  Englishmen.  This  is  what  is  called  a  subsidized 
force.  The  same  is  to  be  found  among  all  the  independent  princes 
of  India.  The  policy  on  the  part  of  the  invaders,  in  imposin 
on  their  dependents  this  subsidized  force,  is  a  consummate  piece 
of  worldly  wisdom,  and  is  well  understood  by  the  English.  In 
this  way  they  virtually  secure  the  army  of  those  who  might 
become  their  opponents.  They  secure  the  patronage  for  the 
most  lucrative  offices  in  these  states,  which,  in  England,  is  so 
highly  valued,  as  to  make  this  one  of  the  greatest  advantages 


*He  has  since  been  deposed,  and  has  followed  Barjee  Row  on  his  pilgrimage  to 
Benares. 


40  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

derived  from  their  Eastern  possessions.  By  allowing  these  states, 
many  of  which  are  not  fertile,  and  but  sparsely  peopled,  to  govern 
themselves,  they  derive  more  advantages  than  they  would  be 
likely  to  realize  were  they  to  assume  the  reins  of  government 
over  them.  The  Eajah  of  Sattara  is  not  allowed  to  go  out  of 
his  own  capital,  or  to  see  an  Englishman,  not  even  an  officer  of 
his  own  army,  if  he  be  an  Englishman,  without  permission  from 
the  Resident.  The  truth  is,  these  princes  only  retain  the  shadow 
of  power ;  and  this  will  vanish  when  the  interest  or  the  will  of 
the  East  India  Company  shall  require  it.  The  Residents  are 
kings ;  the  princes  are  vassals. 

The  possessions  of  the  English,  in  India,  are  more  extensive 
than  is  generally  supposed.  Their  dominion,  in  the  manner  I 
have  described,  embraces  a  population  of  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  millions.  Their  vast  territories  have,  heretofore,  been  divid- 
ed into  three  portions,  called  Presidencies,  viz :  Bengal,  Madras 
and  Bombay.  A  new  Presidency  has  recently  been  added,  in  the 
north  of  India,  the  capital  of  which  is  Agra.  Each  of  these 
has  its  governor.  The  Governor  of  Bengal  is  the  Governor- 
General  of  all  India;  and  the  other  governors  are  subordinate 
to  him.  He  enjoys  an  income,  and  supports  a  state  dignity, 
scarcely  inferior  to  that  of  the  king  of  England.  His  palace,  in 
external  appearance  at  least,  far  surpasses  St.  James'  in  London, 
and  is  not  inferior  to  the  new  palace.  All  the  heads  of  govern- 
ment are  princes;  and  Calcutta,  the  capital  of  all  India,  is  well 
named  the  City  of  Palaces.  The  revenue  of  India,  which  is 
enormous,  and  which  burdens  the  poor  natives  beyond  any 
thing  which  they  can  much  longer  endure,  is  said  to  be  inade- 
quate to  the  expenses  of  government.  The  soil  is  the  imme- 
diate property  of  the  government,  which  the  people  cultivate  as 
vassals. 

A  vast  army  is,  of  course,  required  to  insure  the  peaceful 
possession  of  such  a  country.  The  majority  of  the  soldiers  are 
Sepoys,  enlisted  in  the  country,  disciplined  in  European  tactics, 
and  invariably  officered  by  Englishmen.  ~No  native  is  allowed 
to  hold  any  office  of  trust,  or  of  much  profit.  The  military 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  41 

force  is  diffused  over  the  whole  country.  Every  stronghold  is 
secured,  and  every  large  town,  or  other  important  place,  is  garri- 
soned. Hence,  in  whatever  part  of  India  we  go,  we  meet  with 
people  of  our  own  color  and  language,  in  different  ranks  of  life, 
but  all  connected  with  the  government.  "We  find,  at  every 
important  military  station,  Christian  churches  and  chaplains, 
and  nominal  Christians,  and  a  few  real  Christians.  "We  also  find, 
in  these  insulated  spots,  which  are  like  little  smiling  islands  in 
the  midst  of  the  dark  ocean,  comfortable  and  elegant  houses, 
beautiful  gardens,  refined  and  intelligent  gentlemen  and  ladies, 
European  markets,  roads,  bridges,  carriages,  and  all  that  goes  to 
make  up  the  comforts  and  elegancies  of  life.  What  a  contrast 
between  the  conquerors  and  the  conquered ! 

An  important  acquisition,  which  the  English  made  in  India, 
was  that  of  the  Mahratha  country,  in  the  Deckan.  This  was 
done  in  the  year  1818.  The  prince  of  the  Mahratha  states  being 
in  his  minority,  the  government  was  administered  by  the  Peshwa, 
(prime  minister.)  The  Peshwa  had  confined  the  young  prince  in 
the  fort  at  Sattara,  under  the  pretext  that  he  was  non  compos 
mentis ;  and  had  assumed  the  reins  of  government  himself.  It 
is  unnecessary  to  detail  the  causes  that  led  to  the  war  which 
terminated  in  the  subjugation  of  those  states  to  the  British  rule, 
and  sent  Barjee  Row,  the  Peshwa,  on  a  long  pilgrimage  to  the 
holy  city  of  Benares,  with  a  pension  of  800,000  rupees  a  year ! 
Barjee  Row  no  doubt  deserved,  on  account  of  the  infamous 
course  of  policy  which  he  adopted,  both  towards  the  English  and 
native  governments,  a  severe  chastisement.  But  whether  the 
English  were  right  in  judging  that  his  misrule  and  his  treachery 
afforded  a  just  ground  for  them  to  substitute  what  they  thought 
a  better  form  of  government,  I  leave  for  the  politician  to  decide. 
The  fact  is  before  us,  that  they  did  it;  and  in  this  conquest, 
added  another  large  tract  of  territory  to  their  already  overgrown 
possessions,  and  again  replenished  their  coffers  with  the  wealth 
of  the  Peshwa.  But  in  this,  as  in  all  their  conquests,  there  is  a 
semblance  of  virtue  and  justice.  They  espoused  the  cause  of 


42  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

the  rightful  heir  to  the  throne,  and  put  down  the  usurper.  But 
what  did  they  do  with  the  usurper?  and  what  with  the  lawful 
heir  of  the  Mahratha  states?  The  former  they  sent  to  Benares, 
the  holy  city  of  all  India,  with  a  rich  pension  of  800,000  rupees 
($400,000)  a  year;  and  to  the  latter  they  gave  Sattara,  his  former 
prison,  with  a  small  province  adjacent.  Here  for  a  time  he  wore 
the  crown,  while  another  wielded  the  sceptre. 

The  famous  NENA  SAHIB  is  none  other  than  the  adopted  son  of 
the  Peshwa;  at  the  death  of  whom,  he  claimed  the  pension  of 
the  Peshwa.  The  refusal  on  the  part  of  the  East  India  Govern- 
ment to  continue  it  to  the  claimant  is,  no  doubt,  the  chief  grievance 
which  has  for  years  been  festering  in  the  mind  of  this  prostrate 
prince,  till  it  has  at  length  burst  forth  in  deeds  of  revenge  and 
savage  cruelty  unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  history. 


- 


CHAPTER    III. 

Modern  India — India  of  the  last  century  —  Conquest  of  the  English  —  English 
Policy,  and  the  Unchristian  Character  of  the  English  Government — India  of  1857-8 
— The  Mutiny  of  the  Mutineers. 

ALL  eyes  are,  at  the  present  moment,  again  anxiously  turned 
towards  the  great  East.  There  the  mighty  hand  that  rules  the 
world,  is  signally  at  work.  India  and  China,  the  two  great  Ori- 
ental nations,  are  again  in  commotion,  presaging  revolution  and 
change.  Events  are  now  transpiring  there,  the  recital  of  which 
fills  us  with  horror,  and  quite  puts  at  fault  all  our  preconceived 
notions  of  the  designs  and  workings  of  Providence.  We  have  been 
wont,  admiringly,  to  follow  the  stately  stoppings  of  the  great  con- 
trolling power,  in  the  singular  progress  of  advancement,  in  that 
wonderful  country,  from  its  discovery  by  De  Gama,  around  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  to  its  present  prosperous  and  (as  we  had 
supposed)  consolidated  condition  of  the  British  Empire;  and  to 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  43      ,. 

mark,  from  step  to  step,  the  rise  and  fall  of  one  empire  after 
another,  until  the  great  civilizing  race,  the  Anglo-Saxon  stock, 
came ;  and  with  the  religion,  science,  arts  and  institutions,  which 

elevate,  enlighten  and  purify,  seemed  to  have  obtained  a  peaceful 

ft 
and  permanent  possession. 

.  But  how  soon  is  all  human  sagacity  staggered!  "We  stand 
amazed  at  the  dreadful  developments  of  the  present  hour !  They 
seem  to  contradict  all  our  pleasing  anticipations,  that  that  great 
and  idolatrous  land,  which  we  had  seen  so  strangely  transferred, 
first  from  Pagan  to  Mohammedan  rule,  then  from  Mohammedan 
to  the  Christian  faith,  should  speedily  be  numbered  among  the 
nations  that  belong  to  Immanuel,  and  rejoice  in  the  light  of  the 

Sun  of  Righteousness !     A  dark  cloud  has  risen !     The  tempest 

» 
of  war  has  broken,  with  dreadful  violence,  on  that  ancient  land ! 

The  English  had  subjected  to  their  rule  nearly  all  those  exten- 
sive and  rich,  populous  and  superstitious  lands ;  had  opened  wide 
the  door  for  the  ingress  of  western  civilization,  learning  and 
religion;  had  given  full  protection  to  the  missionary  of  every 
name,  and  seemed  to  hold  out  an  undoubted  promise  that  those 
dark  realms  of  idolatry,  and  those  sickly  regions  of  the  crescent, 
would  soon  be  illumined  by  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  The 
Morning  Star  had  risen,  and  we  rejoiced  in  songs  of  victory  over 
the  supposed  downfall  of  the  last  stronghold  of  idolatry.  What, 
then,  is  this  strange  sound  that  reaches  our  ears?  It  is  the 
sound  of  war !  The  standard  of  rebellion  has  been  raised !  A 
"  mutiny ! "  the  most  violent,  atrocious  and  bloody,  has  suddenly  jJfe 
broken  out  among  the  native  soldiery;  and  English  officers,  and 
civilians,  their  wives  and  their  children,  are  made  the  victims  of 
the  most  unrelenting  and  shameless  cruelty.  The  tortures, 
maiming,  scalping,  flaying  alive,  murdering  by  piece  meal,  and  bru- 
talities innumerable,  which  are  indiscriminately  practiced  on  every 
class  of  Europeans,  surpass  all  description.  "We  are  astonished  at 
the  strange  fertility  of  conception  which  has  given  birth  to  such 
monstrous  atrocities.  The  North  American  Indians  were  mere 
tyros  in  the  infernal  arts  of  torture  and  shameless  barbarity, 
compared  with  these  Indians  of  the  East.  But  I  will  reserve 


44  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE, 

details  for  another  part  of  this  chapter,  that  I  may  speak  of 
India  as  she  has  appeared  since  the  first  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  especially  in  the  part  she  has  played  in  the  drama 
of  the  last  hundred  years. 

The  discovery  of  a  passage  to  India  by  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  began  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the  East.  The  Portu- 
guese soon  began  to  acquire  territory,  and  to  exercise  dominion 
over  the  nations ;  and  they  shortly  found  themselves  in  posses- 
sion of  all  India,  and  of  nearly  all  southern  Asia,  from  the  Red 
Sea  to  the  Chinese  Ocean.  They  took  possession  in  the  name  of 
the  Pontifex  Maximus  of  Rome.  Thus  more  than  one-half  of 
the  population  of  the  globe,  and  a  yet  larger  proportion  of  the 
wealth  and  civilization  and  civil  power  of  the  world,  passed  into 
the  hands  of  this  power. 

But  this  magnificent  empire  soon  passed  away.  In  less  than  a 
century  its  glory  had  departed ;  and  the  Dutch,  and  the  French, 
in  turn,  became  its  successor.  As  late  as  the  middle  of  the  last 
.  century,  so  strong  had  the  power  of  the  French  become  in  India, 
that  an  Indo-French  empire  seemed  not  improbable,  but  no  one 
would  have  then  dreamed  of  an  Indo-English  empire. 

Previous  to  this  period,  a  few  English  merchants  and  adventur- 
ers had  asked  a  little  land  on  the  Hoogly  river,  where  they  might 
deposit  their  merchandise,  as  collected  from  the  natives,  and 
thence  ship  it  to  England.  Then  they  needed  a  few  Sepoys  to 
protect  their  persons,  premises  and  property.  This  the  reigning 
prince  granted.  But  they  required  a  little  more  land  and  a  few 
more  Sepoys;  and  as  difficulties  arose  with  their  neighbors,  or 
depredations  were  committed  by  lawless  bands,  they  applied  for 
further  protection  and  more  room.  Kative  princes  at  length  be- 
came jealous  and  troublesome  neighbors;  and  now  they  required 
a  few  more  Sepoys,  in  order  to  help  themselves  to  a  little  more 
territory,  until  the  rich  and  vast  empire  of  the  Great  Mogul 
was  dismembered,  and  piece-meal  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
English.  And  thus  it  has  been,  only  by  increasing  a  large  army 
by  a  few  more  Sepoys,  and  annexing  to  their  already  extensive 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  45 

dominions  a  little  more,  that  they  have  subjected  all  India  to  their 
sway. 

Much  of  India's  history  is  told,  in  a  few  words,  in  the  follow- 
ing paragraph,  cut  from  the  Albany  Journal : 

"India  is  a  country  that  has  never  belonged  to  its  natives. 
Two  thousand  years  ago  Alexander  and  his  Greeks  led  dusky 
captives  in  golden  fetters  from  them  to  Athens.  After  him  it 
became  the  prize  of  Parthian  bows  and  Scythian  spears.  Then 
came  Mohammed  and  his  Persians  from  Ghuznee,  to  teach,  by 
scimitar,  the  new  theology,  "  Allah  il  Allah,  and  Mohammed  is 
his  Prophet."  Then  the  Afghans  drove  out  the  Persians.  Then 
the  Tartars  drove  out  the  Afghans.  Then  came  Tunour,  the  ter- 
rible Tartar,  and  the  long  and  princely  line  of  Great  Moguls  — 
Baber  and  Acbur,  Jehanghire  and  Aurungzebe.  The  Mogul  Em- 
pire got,  like  the  British,  too  big  to  hold  together.  Down  went 
the  throne  at  Delhi,  and  up  sprang  a  crop  of  viceroys,  nizams, 
kings,  shahs,  rajahs,  newaubs  and  nabobs,  all  over  the  provinces. 
About  this  time  H.  B.  M.  East  India  Company  came  to  trade, 
and  stayed  to  rule.  By  cajoling  one  prince,  threatening  another, 
invading  a  third,  and  'protecting'  a  fourth,  they  got  the  whole 
concern  into  the  hands  of  John  Bull,  and  the  lion  and  the  unicorn. 
If  the  Sepoys  succeed  in  securing  a  native  Hindoo  dynasty  now, 
it  will  be  the  first  they  ever  had." 

Occasions  for  war  were  never  wanting.  A  native  prince  be- 
came troublesome,  and  he  must  be  put  out  of  the  way,  and  his 
territory  be  annexed  to  the  conquering  power ;  or  a  prince  already 
in  alliance  becomes  refractory,  and  he  must  be  humbled ;  or  there 
is  misrule  or  oppression,  or  usurpation  of  one  native  ruler  against 
another,  and  the  English  must,  in  mercy  or  justice,  interfere  and 
set  all  at  rights.  If  the  strong  oppress  the  weak,  the  English 
must,  forsooth,  become  the  arbiter;  and  not  the  quiet  arbiter 
only.  They  must  interpose  their  powerful  arm,  and  rebuke  the 
wrong-doer  by  espousing  the  cause  of  the  one  reputed  to  be  right, 
The  result  of  these  rectifying  processes — more  or  less  plausible — 
has  usually  been  that  the  English  have  taken  to  themselves 
the  lion's  share.  And  thus  their  rule  had  become  undisputed 


46  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

over  nearly  all  the  nations  between  the  river  Indus  and  the  Buram- 
pootra,  and  Cape  Comorin  and  the  Himalaya  mountains.  So 
completely  subjugated  had  all  these  tribes  and  nations  become, 
and  so  apparently  submissive  and  satisfied,  that  we  supposed  an 
insurrection  scarcely  possible. 

But  in  order  that  we  may  obtain  any  thing  like  a  just  appreci- 
ation of  the  character  of  the  present  difficulties  in  India,  we  need 
to  call  up  something,  at  least,  of  the  history  of  English  conquests 
and  dominion  in  that  country.  We  will  open  to  the  records  of  less 
than  a  century  ago,  and  see  what  the  faithful  historian  has  record- 
ed of  the  doings  of  his  countrymen  in  that  very  land.  And  if  it 
shall  appear  that  they  have  been  "replenished  from  the  east," 
without  having  made  any  adequate  return,  such  as  the  most  obvi- 
ous dictates  of  justice  would  imply  that  a  great  and  Christian 
nation  should  make  towards  a  nation  of  idolaters;  if  they  have  held 
and  governed,  without  let  or  hindrance,  a  nation  of  150,000,000 
of  souls,  without  scarcely  making  it  manifest  that  they  are 
themselves  a  Christian  people,  without  scarcely  leaving  a  monu- 
ment of  their  own  superior  advancement  and  philanthropy  be- 
hind them,  should  they  be  driven  from  India  to-day ;  and  especially 
if,  in  their  early  conquests,  they  committed  wrongs,  oppressions 
and  atrocities  scarcely,  if  at  all,  less  barbarous  and  appalling, 
and  less  disgraceful  to  humanity,  than  those  which  do  at  the 
present  time  appall  the  very  heart  of  barbarism  itself,  we  shall 
cease  to  wonder  that  the  great  and  just  One,  who  "requites"  na- 
tions, as  well  as  societies  and  individuals,  for  all  wrong-doing, 
"  according  as  they  have  done,"  should  suffer  such  things  to  be. 
"Wherever  there  be  oppression,  there  will  sooner  or  later  be  retri- 
bution. There  is  no  attribute  in  the  God-head  that  can  finally 
favor  the  oppressor. 

What  right  had  England  in  India?  How  came  she  there? 
By  what  means,  and  for  what  reasons,  did  she  conquer  that  coun- 
try, and  why  has  she  for  so  long  a  time  held  possession  of  it? 
And  what  does  the  faithful  page  of  history  declare  to  'be  the  real 
character  of  her  conquests?  Does  not  the  voice  of  blood,  un- 
righteously and  inhumanly  shed  —  does  not  the  cry  of  oppres- 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  47 

sion  and  wrong  go  up  into  the  ear  of  Him  who  avengeth  all 
wrong-doing  ? 

But  we  would  gladly  he  spared  from  any  such  allusions.  "We 
cannot  reply  to  such  queries  without  seeming  censoriousness  on 
a  nation  which  we  would  only  honor.  But  it  is  the  English  his- 
torian that  has  left  the  fatal  facts  on  record.  Yet  we  are  not 
ignorant  of  the  great  providential  mission  which  the  exercise  of 
British  rule  in  India  has  been  made  to  fulfill.  We  thank  God, 
and  honor  that  government  for  it.  It  is  only  as  British  power 
has  weakened,  if  not  demolished,  the  formidable  bulwarks  of 
Brahminical  idolatry,  that  a  wide  and  effectual  door  has  been 
opened  for  the  introduction  of  the  Gospel ;  it  is  only  as  the  same 
strong  arm  has  been  extended  over  them,  that  modern  missions 
have  been  established  there  and  proved  so  abundantly  successful. 
Education,  science  and  European  civilization  have  been  exten- 
sively introduced ;  a  better  form  of  government  has  been  estab- 
lished among  the  abject  tribes  of  Hindoostan  than  had  ever  been 
known  there.  And  more  than  all,  an  infinitely  better  type  of 
religion  had  followed  in  the  wake  of  those  conquests  than  had 
ever  blessed  that  land  of  idols  before.  From  the  beginning  there 
have  been  delightful  specimens  of  vital  piety  among  the  English 
residents  in  that  country;  though  during  the  earlier  periods  of 
the  English  there,  it  must  be  confessed,  such  examples  were  like 
angels'  visits.  During  the  last  half  century,  there  has  been  a 
gradual  and  decided  advance  in  the  character  of  the  Christianity 
of  English  residents.  There  now  greet  you,  in  every  part  of  the 
land,  chaplains  and  churches,  missionaries  and  their  schools, 
presses,  churches  and  convents,  and  you  no  where  meet  more  de- 
lightful specimens  of  enlarged  and  liberal  piety. 

There  is,  indeed,  a  providential  phase  of  the  history  of  British 
India  that  is  truly  admirable ;  yet  there  is  another  phase  which 
is  neither  admirable  nor  innocent.  But  it  is  this  aspect  of  Indian 
affairs  which  we  must  bear  in  mind  if  we  would  understand  the 
true  character  of  the  dreadful  insurrection  which  has  recently 
broken  out  in  that  country.  It  is,  on  the  part  of  the  Sepoys,  a 
war  of  retaliation  and  revenge  —  a  desperate  attempt  to  throw 


48  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

off  a  yoke  which  had  from  the  "beginning  galled  them  to  the 
quick. 

We  are  shocked,  we  stand  amazed  at  the  savage  character  of 
the  warfare  now  waged  by  the  natives  of  India  against  their 
European  rulers.  "We  were  altogether  unprepared  to  hear  of 
such  atrocities  in  the  nineteenth  century;  and  least  of  all  did 
•we  expect  that  such  rare  exhibitions  of  wanton  ferocity  should 
be  perpetrated  by  a  people  so  servile  and  harmless  as  the  Hin- 
doos of  the  present  generation  appeared  to  be.  But  the  dread- 
ful problem  seems  to  find  a  solution  the  moment  we  recur  to  the 
early  history  of  British  India.  God  is  just;  and  as  a  people  do, 
so  he  will  requite  them.  Thinking  men  in  England,  at  the  pres- 
ent hour,  are  not  slow  to  see,  and  are  frank  to  acknowledge,  the 
retributive  character  of  the  present  horrible  warfare  in  Hindoos- 
tan.  The  Sepoys  are  but  the  faithful  pupils  of  their  British 
teachers.  The  appalling  cruelties  which  the  latter  are  suffering, 
are  awfully  similar  to  the  wrongs  which  their  ancestors  suffered 
from  the  hands  of  their  conquerors. 

No  one  can  read  the  following  paragraphs  without  being  pain- 
fully struck  with  the  fact,  that  the  refined  tortures,  which  the 
English  have  recently  suffered,  are  but  the  repetition  of  cruelties 
which  they  themselves  have  been  inflicting,  for  many  long  and 
bitter  years,  upon  the  victims  of  their  oppression  in  India ;  till 
at  last,  in  their  feebleness  and  extremity,  and  in  the  mingled 
aggravation  of  human  vindictiveness  and  religious  fanaticism, 
they  have  turned,  with  dying  desperation,  upon  their  rulers,  to 
throw  off  the  yoke  from  their  necks,  or  to  perish,  as  they  will,  in 
the  struggle. 

"We  first  quote  from  the  British  Standard,  edited  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Campbell,  a  distinguished  clergyman  of  London  :  "  Let  it 
.never  be  forgotten,  that,  in  the  terrible  events  which  have  re- 
cently transpired  in  the  East,  the  English  have  been  the  tutors, 
and  the  Sepoys  the  pupils ;  they  have  only  been  exemplifying 
the  lessons  taught  their  fathers  and  themselves.  The  difference 
is  simply  one  of  circumstances ;  the  public  eye  is  intently  fixed 
on  their  doings,  while  their  reasons  are  concealed.  On  the 


INDIA   AND   ITS    PEOPLE.  49 

strength  of  history,  however,  we  assert  that  nothing  has,  on  the 
present  occasion,  been  done  by  the  mutinous  troops  that  cannot 
be  paralleled,  if  not  exceeded,  from  the  history  of  England's 
career  in  Hindoostan.     One  of  the  most  noted  events  of  th 
hour,  «for  its  treacherous  wickedness,  has  found  a  parallel  in  Eng 
land's  treatment  of  the  Rajah  of  Bengal." 

"The  fort  was  surrendered  on  express  stipulation  for  the 
safety,  and  freedom  from  search,  of  the  females ;  but,  adds  Mills, 
'  the  idea  suggested  by  Mr.  Hastings  diffused  itself  but  too  per- 
fectly amongst  the  soldiery ;  and  when  the  princesses,  with  their 
relatives  and  attendants,  to  the  number  of  three  hundred  women, 
besides  children,  withdrew  from  the  castle,  the  capitulation  was 
shamefully  violated.  They  were  plundered  of  their  effects,  and 
their  persons  otherwise  rudely  and  disgracefully  treated  by  the 
licentious  people,  and  officers  of  the  camp.' " 

Again,  as  to  modes  of  raising  money,  Mr.  Patterson,  the  Com- 
pany's own  commissioner,  says :  "  Those  who  could  not  raise 
the  money  demanded  were  most  cruelly  tortured;  cords  were 
drawn  tight  round  their  fingers,  till  the  flesh  of  the  four,  on  each 
hand,  was  actually  incorporated,  and  became  one  solid  mass. 
The  fingers  were  then  reparted  by  wedges  of  iron  and  wood 
driven  in  between  them.  Others  were  tied,  two  by  two,  by  the 
feet,  and  thrown  across  a  wooden  bar,  upon  which  they  hung 
with  their  feet  uppermost.  They  were  then  beaten  on  the  soles 
of  their  feet,  with  dreadful  torture.  They  were  afterwards 
beat  about  the  head  till  the  blood  gushed  out  at  the  mouth,  nose, 
and  ears.  They  were  often  flogged  on  the  naked  body  with 
bamboo  canes  and  prickly  cactus;  above  all,  with  some  pois- 
onous weeds,  which  were  of  a  caustic  nature  and  burnt  at  every 
lash." 

But  what  of  the  treatment  of  females,  as  this  is  the  most 
aggravated  feature  in  the  present  instance  ?  The  commissioner 
shall  again  answer : 

"  The  treatment  of  the  females  could  not  be  described.  Drag- 
ged from  the  inmost  recesses  of  their  cells,  which  the  religion  of 
the  country  had  made  so  many  sanctuaries,  they  were  exposed 


50  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

naked  to  public  view.  The  virgins  were  carried  to  the  court 
of  justice,  where  they  might  naturally  have  looked  for  protec- 
tion, but  they  now  looked  for  it  in  vain ;  for  in  the  face  of  the 
ministers  of  justice,  in  the  face  of  the  spectators,  in  the  face  of 
the  sun,  these  tender  and  modest  virgins  were  brutally  violated. 
The  only  difference  between  their  treatment  and"  that  of  their 
mothers  was,  that  the  former  were  dishonored  in  the  face  of  day, 
the  latter  in  the  gloomy  recesses  of  their  dungeon." 

And,  as  if  this  were  not  enough,  the  same  writer  says :  "  These 
females  had  the  nipples  of  their  breasts  put  into  cleft  bamboos 
and  torn  out ! " 

"  What  follows,"  remarks  Mr.  "William  Howitt,  as  he  is  com- 
menting on  such  appalling  cruelties,  "  is  too  shocking  and  inde- 
cent to  describe !  It  is  almost  impossible,  in  reading  of  such  fright- 
ful and  savage  enormities,  to  believe  that  we  are  reading  of  a 
country  under  the  British  Government,  and  that  these  unmanly 
deeds  were  perpetrated  by  British  agents,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
extorting  the  British  revenue." 

Another  gentleman,  for  a  long  time  resident  in  India,  speak- 
ing of  other  abuses  of  British  power,  says:  "I  have  known 
respectable  officers  tied  up  and  flogged  before  the  whole  regi- 
ment, and  then  dismissed  without  any  sort  of  inquiry.  They  did 
complain,  but  the  commanding  officer  was  related  to  Lord  Dal- 
housie,  and,  of  course,  there  was  no  redress;  one  was  named 
Hyder  Khan,  and  his  brother,  Gaffer  Khan,  died  gloriously  at 
Khalat.  Nor  are  the  miserable  ryots  better  off.  Their  suffer- 
ings, their  poverty,  their  degradation,  are  a  matter  of  public 
notoriety,  and  at  the  bottom  of  this,  as  of  all  disasters  attending 
our  Indian  rule,  is  corruption,  and  again  corruption.  Corruption 
in  the  native  officers  and  agents,  encouraged  and  turned  to  profit 
by  the  European  servants  of  the  Company ;  corruption  again 
among  these,  winked  at  by  the  government  at  home." 

Were  not  these  the  language  of  British  gentlemen,  who  know 
what  they  affirm,  we  should  not  dare  to  quote  them.  It  would 
seem  invidious.  But  if  the  remembrance  of  such  wrongs  has 
been  festering  in  the  breasts  of  that  people,  we  cannot  wonder  at 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  51 

the  present  outbreak.  The  tortures  and  shameless  brutalities 
which  the  victims  of  the  present  insurrection  are  made  to  suffer, 
are  in  revenge  for  similar  outrages  committed  by  them  in  their 
former  warfares.  We  open  the  well  accredited  "History  of 
British  India,"  by  the  Hon.  Hugh  Murray,  and  meet  details, 
incidentally  related,  which  fully  confirm  all  I  have  intimated. 
We  find,  at  an  early  period  of  this  history,  a  mission  sent  out  to 
India  "to  put  an  end  to  the  exactions  of  presents  by  British  offi- 
cers, who  had  enriched  themselves  at  the  expense  of  the  native 
powers."* 

The  nefarious  schemes  by  which  the  celebrated  Warren  Hast- 
ings (then  Governor-General  of  India)  adopted  to  increase  the 
revenue  of  his  government,  and  to  enable  him  to  prosecute  his 
wars  against  the  native  princes,  are  but  too  much  of  a  piece  with 
the  general  policy  pursued  by  the  local  government,  and  winked 
at,  if  not  approved,  by  the  government  at  home.  The  great 
Mogul,  after  being  dethroned  and  driven  from  the  capital  of  his 
great  empire,  is  assigned,  under  governmental  protection,  the 
provinces  of  Corah  and  Allahabad.  But  the  wily  Governor- 
General  soon  finds  a  pretext  to  annul  all  obligations  to  this  fallen 
prince,  and  to  take  possession  of  those  provinces. 

And  here  we  must  not  overlook  the  significant  fact,  that  these 
provinces  (including  Bengal,  the  seat  of  a  misrule  not  less 
oppressive,)  are,  in  awful  retribution,  now  the  theatre  of  the 
present  most  appalling  scenes  of  massacre  and  desolation ;  while 
those  parts  of  the  country  where  the  British  church  has  done 
her  duty,  and  Christian  missions  have  fulfilled  their  benign  office, 
have  hitherto  been  kept,  in  a  great  measure,  exempt. 

The  Rajah  of  Benares,  after  exactions  had  been  made  on  him 
for  money,  which  he  could  not  and  would  not  meet,  was  thrown 
into  prison  and  his  whole  treasure  seized.  But  these  exactions, 
fraudulent  and  arbitrary  as  they  were,  were  harmless  and  decent 
compared  with  the  extortions  which,  under  torture,  drew  from 
the  Begums  (the  mother  and  grandmother  of  another  prince) 
the  sum  of  two  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars. 

*  Vol.  i,  pp.  278-82. 


52  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

On  his  return  to  England,  Hastings  was  impeached  for  frauds 
and  treacheries  the  most  gigantic.  Burke,  with  Sheridan  and 
Pitt,  espoused  the  side  of  the  prosecution.  The  great  orator 
"  opened  the  charge  in  a  speech  which  lasted  four  days,  in  which 
ne  represented  the  conduct  of  Hastings  as  a  compound  of 
treachery  and  cruelty  disgraceful  to  the  British  name,  and 
almost  without  a  parallel  in  the  annals  of  history."  Yet,  after 
the  most  unheard  of  evasions,  shifts,  and  delays,  the  ex-Gov- 
ernor-General was  allowed  to  go  unwhipped  of  justice. 

But  has  not  the  policy  of  the  British  Government  in  India 
greatly  changed  for  the  better?  Are  not  her  servants  there, 
the  present  rulers  of  the  country,  guided  by  more  liberal  and 
just  principles?  And  is  not  that  country  at  the  present  day  bet- 
ter governed  than  it  had  been  for  eight  centuries  previous  to  the 
conquests  of  the  English?  All  this  we  grant.  Yet  England, 
when  weighed  in  the  balances  of  a  righteous  Providence,  is 
found  wanting.  God  has  committed  to  her,  as  a  Christian 
nation,  150,000,000  of  idolaters.  He  has  given  her  a  singular 
supremacy  there ;  and  had  her  rule  in  that  country  been  such  as 
became  a  great  and  Christian  nation  —  had  she  used  her  unparal- 
leled facilities  for  the  civilization,  education,  and  Christianization 
of  those  heathen  nations,  she  would,  undoubtedly,  ere  this,  have 
been  the  honored  instrument  of  the  greatest  political  and  moral 
revolution  that  has  ever  yet  transpired  in  our  world.  India  con- 
verted, and  her  150,000,000  enclosed  in  the  fold  of  Christianity, 
would  have  been  sufficiently  extraordinary  of  itself;  but  this 
would  probably  have  been  but  the  beginning  of  good  things  for 
all  those  great  and  populous  nations  of  the  East — the  first  great 
development  of  that  noble  Anglo-Saxon  element,  which,  we 
,rust,  is  yet  destined  to  leaven  the  whole  corrupt  mass  of  ori- 
entalism. India  once  Christianized,  and  a  great  and  independent 
Christian  nation  (the  greatest  in  the  world)  once  established 
there,  and  India,  as  an  illustrious  exemplification  of  what  Chris- 
tianity can  do  in  renovating  the  great  moral  stagnations  of  the 
eastern  world,  and  England  as  the  noble  agent  in  such  a  work, 
they  would,  unitedly,  assume  a  position  before  the  whole  world 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  53 

the  most  commanding  and  influential.  Persia,  Burmah,  Siam, 
and  China,  with  her  360,000,000  of  Pagans,  and  all  the  islands 
of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  would  soon  yield  to  British  power 
and  British  benevolence ;  and  soon  Paganism  and  oriental  des- 
potism would  be  no  more. 

But  England  has  betrayed  her  great  and  sacred  trust.  No 
nation  ever  had  it  in  her  power  to  do  so  great  and  good  a  work. 
Her  mission  was  an  illustrious  one;  and  Providence  had,  in  a 
most  remarkable  manner,  furnished  and  adapted  her  to  fulfill  the 
mission  we  have  supposed.  But  she  has  failed — and  now  her 
first  great  day  of  reckoning  has  come;  yet  we  will  not  despair. 
TVhen  she  shall  have  suffered  the  righteous  judgments  of  her 
God  —  and  in  these  judgments  learned  righteousness  —  when  she 
shall  be  humbled,  and  repent,  and  expiate  for  the  past,  and  be 
prepared  to  do  her  duty  as  a  great  Christian  nation  in  time  to 
come,  she  shall  yet  bear  a  conspicuous  and  a  good  part  in  the 
great  revolutionary  movements  which  seem  destined  soon  to 
change  the  entire  aspect  of  our  world.  In  her,  as  the  great  and 
leading  nation  of  Anglo-Saxondom,  we  trust,  the  sanguine  hopes 
of  the  world  shall  yet  be  realized. 

Had  England  discharged  her  high  and  holy  responsibilities  in 
India,  and  stood  up  in  the  face  of  all  those  nations  as  a  Christian 
government,  and  instead  of  allowing  and  defending  caste,  and 
supporting  idol  temples  and  idol  worship,  and  repudiating  the 
Christian  religion  in  the  schools  which  she  supports,  and  exclud- 
ing the  Bible  from  them,  and  the  missionary  from  access  to  her 
native  army,  had  she  stood  forth  in  her  Christian  character,  she 
would  have  escaped  the  reproach  of  Christendom  and  the  sore 
rebukes  of  heaven ;  she  would  have  been  spared  the  present 
crushing  calamities,  which  have,  like  a  thunderbolt,  fallen  upon 
her.  Such  an  unwelcome  conclusion  we  rather  express  in  the 
words  of  one  of  her  own  writers.  The  London  Times,  looking 
at  these  events  in  the  spirit  of  Christian  statesmanship,  utters 
the  following  high-toned  and  wholesome  truths :  "  These  start- 
ling events  are  a  solemn  rebuke  from  the  God  of  providence  for 
our  national  unfaithfulness  in  the  use  of  unequaled  opportunities 


54  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

for  honoring  the  name  of  Christ,  and  promoting  the  temporal 
and  spiritual  welfare  of  one-sixth  of  the  world's  population. 
The  crime  on  our  part,  so  sternly  rebuked,  is  not  proselytism,  but 
profaneness ;  not  the  god-like  zeal  of  Christian  missionaries,  but 
the  selfish  blindness  of  mere  money -getting  men  of  the  world. 
"Where  has  this  terrible  revolt  broken  out,  and  under  what  cir- 
cumstances? The  people  among  whom  the  missionaries  have 
labored,  have  given  no  visible  signs  of  disaifection.  The  Madras 
Presidency,  where  alone  whole  districts  have  been  Christianized, 
escapes,  hitherto,  scatheless,  and  the  smell  of  fire  has  not  passed 
upon  it.  The  seat  of  the  evil  is  the  army  of  one  Presidency 
alone.  By  the  system  of  recruiting  from  high  castes  alone,  that 
army  has  been  like  a  government  preserve  of  heathen  bigotry. 
Among  these  Bengal  Sepoys,  heathenism  is  found  concentrated 
and  in  fullest  vigor.  Once  taken  into  the  pay  of  the  Indian 
government,  they  have  been  shielded  from  the  slightest  touch  of 
missionary  instruction. 

"  It  is  not  then,  be  it  observed,  where  missionary  labors  have 
told,  that  revolt  has  arisen.  No,  it  is  in  the  Bengal  army,  a  gov- 
ernment preserve  of  high  caste  Hindooism,  where  no  mission- 
aries, we  believe,  have  ever  been  permitted  to  preach  for  a  single 
hour,  or  to  mitigate,  by  the  gradual  and  gentle  diffusion  of 
Christian  truth  and  morality,  those  violent  prejudices,  and  that 
gross  moral  darkness  which  has  been  nursed  under  military  dis- 
cipline and  supplied  with  Enfield  rifles,  so  as  to  precipitate  at  last 
an  explosion  of  religious  excitement  and  national  hatred,  under 
which  our  Indian  Empire,  for  a  moment,  rocks  to  its  foun- 
dation." 

But  I  have  digressed.  I  had  not  finished  the  testimony  of 
England's  wrongs  in  India.  To  the  testimony  of  the  historian 
I  must  add  that  of  late  residents  in  that  country.  Mr.  Guther- 
land,  late  judge  at  Surat,  in  a  report  to  his  government,  Sept. 
29th,  1838,  says :  "Indeed,  the  scenes  that  have  been  practiced 
beggar  all  description.  Most  vicious  and  immoral  conduct  ap- 
pears to  have  been  carried  on  in  the  confidence  of  security  as  to 
consequences;  and  I  unhesitatingly  affirm  that  the  administra- 


INDIA   AND   ITS    PEOPLE.  55 

tion  of  civil  justice  in  this  place  has  been  openly  abused  by  de- 
signing men,  to  the  deterioration  of  morals,  the  injury  of  every 
grade  of  the  community  in  their  property,  while  the  actual  dam- 
age done  must  be  very  great ;  bands  of  wicked  men  resort  to  the 
Adawlut  to  satisfy  their  base  ends ;  the  same  evil  means  are  re- 
sorted to  to  rebut  claims  as  were  used  to  advance  them,  and,  I  grieve 
to  say,  otherwise  good  men  have  often,  in  their  own  defense,  been 
obliged  to  have  recourse  to  them.  Conspiracies  against  property 
have  been  conducted  in  an  open  manner,  and  regularly  organized 
bodies  existed,  of  forgers  and  persons  who  would  swear  falsely. 
This  stain  on  the  character  of  our  administration  I  have  used  my 
utmost  endeavors  to  put  down ;  and  were  I  not  to  do  so,  I  should 
consider  myself  to  be  conniving  at  acts  of  wickedness.  Cases 
are  supported  by  forgery  and  perjury  —  crimes  which,  I  grieve  to 
say,  have  been  prosecuted  in  as  open  a  manner  as  the  promotion 
of  just  claims  by  fair  means.  Thus  the  wicked  practice  upon  the 
honest  citizen  without  expense ;  the  Zillah  court,  by  such  means, 
becomes  debased  to  so  low  a  state  as  to  be  literally  an  engine  of 
tyranny  and  oppression." 

This  upright,  humane,  and  patriotic  testimony,  says  the  Stand- 
ard, from  which  we  quote,  produced  on  the  government  no  other 
than  the  speedy  removal  of  the  judge  himself  who  bore  it,  and 
the  appointment  of  a  successor  more  to  the  taste  of  the  times. 

While  we  admitted  that  the  natives  have  committed  the  most 
dreadful  barbarities,  and  greatly  provoked  the  British  authorities 
and  the  British  people,  we  were  constrained  to  believe  that  they 
were  led  into  such  conduct  by  the  British  in  India  themselves. 
And  we  find  that  a  considerable  and  influential  portion  of  the 
people  of  England,  while  deeply  sympathizing,  as  we  do,  with 
those  who  have  been  afflicted  by  the  savage  conduct  of  the 
native  population  of  India,  express  most  unequivocally  similar 
sentiments  to  those  put  forth  in  this  paper. 

A  handbill,  entitled  "  Vengeance  on  India ! "  has  been  widely 
circulated  in  England,  by  persons  of  great  respectability,  con- 
taining the  following  facts :  "  Sir  Charles  Metcalf  said,  while 
Governor- General  of  India,  '  Such  is  the  insecurity  of  our  ten- 


56  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

ure  of  India,  that  I  should  not  be  surprised  to  awake  some 
morning  and  find  the  whole  thing  blown  up!'  Mr.  Mont- 
gomery Martin  speaks  thus :  '  The  handwriting  is  on  the  wall ; 
if  ever  a  nation  deserved  punishment,  it  will  be  England,  should 
she  continue  in  her  present  career  of  injustice  to  India.'  Mr. 
Mangles,  the  chairman  of  the  East  India  Company,  when  ex- 
amined before  the  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  stated 
that,  '  during  fourteen  years  we  have  taken  from  India  three 
hundred  millions  sterling,  and  have  spent  in  improving  it  not  a 
million  and  a  half!'  The  Protestant  missionaries  of  Bengal 
state,  (in  a  paper  presented  to  the  House  of  Commons  last  ses- 
sion, by  Mr.  Kinnaird,)  '  Sixty  years  have  sufficed  to  reduce  a 
fair  and  fertile  region,  as  large  as  France,  to  a  condition  similar 
to  that  under  which  Ireland  suffered  so  grievously  and  so  long. 
The  vast  mass  of  the  population  live  in  a  state  of  the  most  help- 
less poverty  and  wretchedness,  aggravated  by  the  inefficiency  of 
the  police,  and  the  exactions  and  cruelties  of  its  officers.  A 
spirit  of  sullen  discontent  prevails  among  the  rural  population, 
growing  out  of  an  impression  that  the  government  is  indifferent 
to  the  sufferings  of  the  people.'  " 

The  British  handbill  referred  to,  further  states  that  "  dreadful 
famines,  the  result  of  misgovernment,  often  occur.  In  the  year 
1837-8,  five  hundred  thousand  people  died  of  famine  in  Bengal !" 

There  is  a  testimony  from  another  quarter  which  we  may  not 
quite  overlook.  What  do  English  missionaries  say  of  British 
policy  in  India,  and  its  bearing  on  the  present  unhappy  state  of 
affairs  there  ? 

In  an  interesting  speech  made  at  Leeds,  England,  on  behalf  of 
the  Baptist.  Missionary  Society,  Mr.  E.  B.  H.  Underbill,  who  has 
recently  visited  the  Society's  stations  in  India,  stated  some  facts 
on  this  point  which  ought  to  be  widely  known.  "While  Chris- 
tianity— the  very  mention  of  Christianity — was,  he  said,  forbid- 
den in  the  government  schools,  the  scholars  in  them  were  constantly 
hearing  references  to  Hindooism,  Mohammedanism,  and  idolatry. 
Yet  of  all  the  boys  who  had  learned  English  in  the  Missionary 
College  at  Serampore,  there  was  not  one  who  remained  an  idol- 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  57- 

ater.  Hindooism  had  lost  all  its  influence  upon  the  educated 
young  men  of  Bengal,  who  were  fully  persuaded  of  the  folly  of 
the  faith  of  their  fathers.  Missionaries  are  rarely  insulted  now, 
and  never  insulted  by  the  Hindoos.  If  they  are  insulted  at  all,  it 
is  by  the  Mohammedans.  In  disproof  of  the  idle  statement  that 
the  mutiny  was  caused  by  the  missionaries,  Mr.  Underbill  conclu- 
sively remarks,  that  the  Indian  Government  had  forbidden  the 
missionaries  going  to  the  native  regiments  to  speak  to  the  Sepoys 
about  Christianity;  and  it  had  excluded  from  the  cantonments 
every  Christian  missionary  and  Christian  Sepoy :  "  for  as  soon  as 
a  Sepoy  became  a  Christian  he  was  expelled  from  the  army."  In 
fact,  the  Indian  Government  had  done  everything  in  its  power  to 
preserve  the  Sepoy  from  the  "  contamination "  of  English  mor- 
ality and  Christianity.  In  proof  of  the  friendly  feeling  enter- 
tained towards  missionaries  by  the  Hindoos  in  general,  it  may  be 
stated  that  out  of  seventy  missionaries  in  the  northwest  prov- 
inces, not  more  than  five  or  six  have  lost  their  lives. 

The  Rev.  D.  Catuthers,  a  Scottish  clergyman,  who  has  been 
recently  lecturing  in  America,  says : 

"This  anomalous  government — a  trading  company — exer- 
cising civil  powers  over  a  subjected  and  conquered  people,  was 
denounced  as  the  worst  possible  form  of  despotism,  tyranny,  and 
oppression,  regardless  alike  of  the  civil  rights  and  the  religious  su- 
perstitions of  the  people ;  their  only  object,  gain  and  the  means  of 
extension,  directed  to  the  sole  end  of  realizing  the  greatest  possi- 
ble amount  of  money.  The  recent  outbreak  is  the  natural  re- 
sult of  the  long- continued  series  of  wrongs  and  insults  heaped 
upon  the  people  by  their  foreign  rulers." 

We  omit  here,  for  reasons  already  suggested,  the  testimony  of 
the  Eev.  Mr.  Hary,  American  missionary.  He  has  been  exten- 
sively heard  in  Great  Britain,  when  on  his  return  to  this  country. 
He  speaks  responsive  to  the  testimony  already  adduced. 

Thus  far  for  the  British  Standard,  the  Bombay  judges,  and 
the  friends  of  Christian  missions.  The  conclusion  is  but  too 
obvious,  that,  however  naturally  our  sympathies  may  flow  out 
for  England,  in  this  day  of  her  dire  calamity,  and  however 


58  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

ardent  our  desire  that  British  ppwer  may  be  speedily  re-estab- 
lished in  that  country  and  a  strictly  Christian  government  be 
administered  there,  it  is  but  too  obvious  that  England  was  the 
first  transgressor,  and  has  not  ceased  to  provoke  the  outrages 
which  her  people  are  now  suffering  at  the  hands  of  her  indig- 
nant subjects. 

"We  have  no  pleasure  in  detailing  such  facts.  England  is  a 
great,  noble  nation,  and,  as  Americans,  we  are  proud  to  honor 
her.  She  has  been  as  the  right  arm  of  Providence  to  carry  on  a 
higher  order  of  civilization  and  a  better  type  of  Christianity 
around  the  globe  ;  and  we  hope  her  mission  is  not  yet  finished. 
Yet  she  has  sinned.  Her  pride  and  love  of  power,  her  ambi- 
tion, and  avarice  have  but  too  often  led  her  to  play  the  oppressor ; 
and  we  marvel  not  that  the  voice  of  rebuke  has  at  length  broke 
like  a  thunderbolt  upon  her  head.  May  she  heed  the  voice  that 
now  speaks  in  such  awful  tones  of  cruelty  and  carnage,  repent, 
learn  humility  towards  the  weak  and  oppressed,  and  extend  a 
benign  and  Christian  government  over  all  the  vast  and  populous 
nations  of  the  East.  "We  feel  that  the  downfall,  or  the  crippling 
of  the  English  Empire,  would  roll  back  the  wheels  of  modern 
progress  at  least  a  century. 

Had  England  heeded  the  warning  voice  of  her  great  states- 
man, and  ceased  her  unrighteous  doings  toward  her  Indian  colo- 
nies, she  had  been  saved  her  present  humiliating  position,  and 
the  appalling  disasters  which  have  befallen  her  unfortunate  sons 
in  India.  The  words  of  Edmund  Burke  are  yet  terribly  true  of 
her  present  sway  in  that  country.  He  said : 

"  "With  regard  to  Hindoostan,  those  natives  who  are  unfriendly 
o  us  might  with  justice  declare  our  conduct  to  be  more  allied  to  Van- 
dalism than  to  civilization.  If  the  English  were  driven  from  India, 
they  would  leave  behind  them  no  memorial  of  a  great  and  en- 
lightened nation ;  no  monument  of  art,  science,  or  beneficence ; 
no  vestige  of  their  having  occupied  and  ruled  over  the  country, 
except  such  traces  as  the  vulture  and  the  tiger  leave  behind  them." 

The  British  paper  from  which  we  have  cited  these  testimonies — 
and  we  have  not  quoted  half  of  the  horrible  details  —  closes  its 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  59 

appeal  to  England  in  these  sublime  and,  some  of  them,  inspired 
words : 

1  "  No  more  thoughts  of  '  vengeance,'  then,  but  of  humiliation 
before  the  GOD  OF  THE  WHOLE  EARTH.  The  language  of  the 
Prophet  is  only  such  as  befits  the  mouth  of  England :  '  We 
have  sinned  and  committed  iniquity,  and  have  done  wickedly :  0 
Lord !  to  us  belongeth  confusion  of  face,  to  our  kings,  to  our 
princes,  and  to  our  fathers,  because  we  have  sinned  against  Thee : 
to  the  Lord  our  God  belong  mercies  and  forgiveness.'  Let  all 
England  hear  the  words  of  the  greatest  advocate  that  ever  stood 
at  her  bar :  » 

" '  We  are  accustomed  to  govern  India — a  country  which  God  never 
gave  us  —  by  means  which  God  will  never  justify.'  " 

Or  we  may  quote  from  the  Church  Missionary  Intelligence,  a 
paragraph  from  Buchanan,  which  seems  scarcely  less  than  pro- 
phetic :  "  The  toleration  of  all  religions,  and  the  zealous  extension  of 
our  own,  is  the  way  to  rule  and  to  preserve  a  conquered  king- 
dom." And  we  add  another :  "  To  countenance  false  religions, 
and  discourage  our  own,  in  the  hope  of  strengthening  our  influ- 
ence, and  securing  the  affections  of  the  natives,  is  the  surest  way 
to  forfeit  the  Divine  blessing,  and  deprive  ourselves  of  all  we 
have  gained.  Kings  and  governments  who  act  with  such  infidel- 
ity must  expect  Belshazzar's  doom,  '  Thou  art  weighed  in  the  bal- 
ance and  art  found  wanting :  thy  kingdom  is  departed  from  thee/ 

"  The  nation  has  now  to  decide  between  these  two  antagonistic 
principles  of  government.  "We  have  tried  the  wrong  course,  and 
are  now  reaping  its  bitter  fruits.  May  the  grace  of  repentance 
be  given  us,  henceforth  to  choose  the  better  part." 

But  there  are  more  specific  causes  of  the  mutiny.  These, 
however,  with  some  accounts  of  the  character  and  the  results  of 
this  terrific  warfare,  must  be  reserved  for  another  chapter.  How- 
ever severe  or  retributive  it  may  be  in  its  bearings  on  suffering 
England,  or  however  savage  and  inhuman,  on  the  part  of  the 
natives,  there  is  an  eye  that  overlooks  the  whole  —  there  is  an  arm 
that  directs — an  all- wise  and  benevolent  Mind  that  will  bring 
out  of  it  a  result  truly  great  and  glorious. 


60  INDIA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE. 

CHAPTER    IV. 

The  savage  character  of  the  Mutiny  —  Nena  Sahib — Causes  of  the  Mutiny — What 
God  is  bringing    out  of  it,  and  what  will  probably  be  the  final  results. 

WE  do  not  propose  to  enter  deeply  into  the  heart-sickening 
details  of  the  Sepoy  war.  Yet  we  need  to  contemplate  certain 
features  of  it  in  order  to  give  a  right  understanding  to  its  true 
character.  It  is  singularly  cruel,  heartless,^blood-thirsty.  The 
natives  engaged  in  it  seem  quite  to  belie  their  own  character — at 
least,  what,  from  a  long  acquaintance,  was  believed  to  be  their 
character.  The  Hindoos,  especially,  were  understood  to  be  a 
quiet,  submissive,  amiable,  servile  people ;  unresisting,  and  any- 
thing but  blood-thirsty.  The  taking  the  life  even  of  an  animal 
or  insect,  seemed  as  abhorrent  to  their  nature  as  it  is  to  their  re- 
ligion. They  appear  in  no  wise  vindictive  or  cruel.  Yet  it  is 
horribly  characteristic  of  the  present  outbreak,  that  "  a  singular 
propensity  to  cold-blooded  murder  takes  possession  of  them  the 
moment  they  gam  the  power  to  gratify  it."  After  years  of  resi- 
dence among  them,  and  a  familiar  acquaintance  with  all  classes 
of  the  people  —  their  manners,  customs,  and  ostensible  feelings 
towards  their  European  rulers — it  is  difficult  to  give  full  credence 
to  all  the  appalling  accounts  which  come  to  us,  of  their  inhuman 
doings  at  the  present  time.  They  seem  instigated  and  nerved  to 
deeds  too  infernal  to  be  the  conceptions  of  a  human  mind.  The 
master  whom  they  so  loyally  serve  has  all  at  once  made  them 
more  devils  than  men.  Every  fresh  message  that  comes  from 
those  awful  scenes  of  butchery  and  outrage,  seem  to  say,  "  "Woe 
to  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  for  the  devil  is  come  down  unto 
you,  having  great  wrath,  because  he  knoweth  he  has  but  a  short 
time." 

"W"e  are  horror-stricken  as  we  read  the  following  paragraphs. 
Are  the  perpetrators  of  such  barbarities  men,  OT  spirits  incarnate, 
let  loose  for  a  little  season  to  inflict  the  last  judgments  on  proud 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  61 

and  wicked  nations,  and  on  offending  men  ?  A  correspondent 
of  the  New  York  Times,  writing  from  Hong  Kong,  says : 

"  The  mutineers  have  at  every  place  manifested  the  most  fiend- 
like  character,  by  acts  too  horrible  to  relate.  They  respect 
neither  age  nor  sex.  Every  European  that  they  have  captured 
has  suffered  the  same  fate  —  death,  and  sometimes  more  awful 
atrocities. 

"  By  the  Hindoo  religion,  the  spirits  of  bad  men  are  said  to 
pass  into  the  bodies  of  other  men  or  brutes.  It  would  seem  that 
by  some  such  transmigration  of  souls,  if  there  be  a  hell  upon 
earth,  just  now,  it  is  in  that  benighted  and  afflcted  country,  and 
that  it  has  '  broken  lot>se '  and  is  running  riot  with  an  insatiate 
and  ingenious  malice  that  devils  might  envy. 

"  Nothing  in  the  annals  of  war,  during  this  century,  can  com- 
pare with  the  abominable  scenes  enacted  already  in  India,  and 
what  the  future  is  to  bring  forth  is  known  only  to  Hun  who 
limiteth  the  powers  of  evil,  and  to  whom  the  future  is  as  the 
past.  They  have  shown  no  discrimination,  butchering  the  most 
inoffensive  and  defenseless,  the  holy  and  self-sacrificing  mission- 
ary and  his  household,  the  meek  and  amiable  native  Christian, 
and  the  devoted  wife  and  mother,  after  murdering,  before  her 
eyes,  her  husband  and  helpless  infant,  or  bearing  off  her  gentle 
and  shrieking  daughter,  to  await  a  more  dreadful  fate. 

"  A  more  degraded  people,  as  regards  sensuality,  cruelty,  du- 
plicity and  avarice,  is  not  to  be  found ;  and  it  is  alike  for  the 
interest  of  all  civilized  nations,  that  England,  the  great  parent 
of  modern  liberty,  and  that  race  who  are  doing  the  most  to 
spread  the  Gospel  throughout  heathen  lands,  should  not  be  ex- 
terminated or  overthrown  in  India.  We  are,  by  steam  and  inter- 
oceanic  communication,  brought  nearer  to  the  great  marts  of 
Europe  and  America ;  and,  of  course,  anything  affecting  civiliza- 
tion and  commerce  here,  is  of  grave  importance  in  both  hemi- 
spheres." 

-  ^ 

After  the  massacre  at  Meerut  and  Cawnpore,  the  women  were 
turned  over  to  the  rabble  in  the  bazaar  —  stripped,  made  to 
walk  naked  through  the  city,  and  then  outraged,  mutilated 


62  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

and  tormented  to  death.  The  picture  is  too  horrible  for  con- 
templation. 

The  Bombay  Telegraph  contains  the  following  account  of  the 
recapture  of  Cawnpore.  I  give  a  single  extract : 

"  On  the  evening  of  this  engagement  the  column  encamped 
outside  t^e  walls  of  Cawnpore,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  17th 
our  soldiers  entered  the  city.  Accustomed  as  they  had  been  to 
scenes  of  slaughter,  the  spectacle  that  met  their  eyes  nearly 
petrified  them  with  horror.  They  marched  straight  to  a  place 
where  they  were  told  175  women  and  children  were  confined, 
but  on  their  arrival  they  found  they  had  come  too  late  !  They 
only  found  the  clothes  of  the  poor  victims  strewn  over  the  blood- 
stained ground.  The  scene  of  the  horrible  catastrophe  was  a 
paved  court-yard,  and  one  of  the  Highlanders,  in  writing  to  a  co- 
temporary,  says  :  '  There  were  two  inches  of  blood  upon  the 
pavement,  and  from  the  report  that  we  got  from  the  residents  of 
the  place,  it  appears  that,  after  we  had  beaten  the  enemy  the  even- 
ing previous,  the  Sepoys  and  Sowars  entered  the  place  where  the 
unhappy  victims  were,  killed  all  the  ladies,  and  threw  the  children 
alive,  as  well  as  the  ladies'  dead  bodies,  into  a  well  in  the  com- 
pound. I  saw  it,  and  it  was  an  awful  sight.  It  appears  from 
the  bodies  we  saw  that  the  women  were  stripped  of  their  clothes 
before  they  were  murdered.'  A  feeling  more  terrible  than  ven- 
geance arises  in  the  heart  at  reading  this,  and  even  the  most 
reverent  shudder  when  they  think  that  Omnipotence  could  have 
deemed  such  an  ordeal  necessary.  The  history  of  the  world 
affords  no  parallel  to  the  terrible  massacres  which,  during  the 
last  four  months,  have  desolated  the  land.  Neither  age,  sex,  nor 
condition  has  been  spared.  Children  have  been  compelled  to  eat 
the  quivering  flesh  of  their  murdered  parents,  after  which  they 
were  literally  torn  asunder  by  the  laughing  fiends  who  surrounded 
them.  Men  in  many  instances  have  been  mutilated,  and  before 
being  absolutely  killed,  have  had  to  gaze  upon  the  last  dishonor 
of  their  wives  and  daughters  previous  to  being  put  to  death. 
But  really  we  cannot  describe  the  brutalities  that  have  been  com- 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  63 

mitted ;  they  pass  the  boundaries  of  human  belief,  and  to  dwell 
upon  them  shakes  reason  upon  its  throne.  If  ever  a  nation  was 
made  the  instrument  of  an  insulted  Diety,  that  nation  is  Eng- 
land ;  and  we  trust  that  she  will  strike  and  spare  not." 

"  No  tongue,"  says  another  writer,  "  can  describe  the  cruelties 
which  have  been  perpetrated.  We  know  but  little,  for  govern- 
ment prudently  conceals  many  details ;  but  we  know  that  Sepoys 
treacherously  embraced  their  European  officers  at  twilight,  and 
barbarously  murdered  them  at  midnight.  "We  know  that  they 
spared  no  sex,  and  pitied  no  age.  "We  know  that  they  tossed 
children  into  the  air  before  the  eyes  of  their  parents,  and  re- 
ceived the  descending  bodies  upon  the  ends  of  bayonets,  or  clove 
them  as  they  fell  with  their  swords.  We  know  that  they  cut 
the  quivering  flesh  from  the  bodies  of  living  fathers  and  mothers, 
and  made  the  children  eat  it,  and  then  flung  the  little  ones  into 
a  burning  pile  prepared  for  the  purpose.  We  know  that  fair 
women,  wives,  and  virgins,  were  abused  in  the  foulest  manner, 
and  then  horribly  maimed  by  the  excision  of  their  noses,  ears, 
lips,  breasts  and  hands.  We  know  that  Englishmen  have  been 
hunted  down  like  beasts,  and  cut  into  bits,  or  tied  to  cannon  and 
blown  into  spray.  We  know  that  white  men  and  women,  of 
gentle  birth  and  noble  character,  are  lurking  in  remote  jungles, 
subsisting  as  they  may,  till  our  rainy  season  fills  the  river  beds, 
and  affords  them  the  only  hope  of  escape  to  Calcutta.  We  know 
that  from  more  proximate  parts,  fair-haired  babes  have  been 
brought  to  that  city,  whose  parents  none  can  discover,  and  that 
ladies  have  wandered  down  there  insane  or  idiotic,  whose  muti- 
lations tell  the  story  which  they  have  not  mind  left  coherently  to 
relate.  My  heart  fails  me.  I  cannot  enter  into  further  particu- 
lars. History  has  no  annals,  so  for  as  I  have  consulted  them, 
that  exhibit  the  diabolical  malignity  and  the  enormous  atrocities 
which  have  stamped  with  hideousness  every  stage  of  this 
mutiny." 

We  are  justly  shocked  by  "  the  bloody  orgies  of  these  slaugh- 
tering savages."  There  is  a  cold-blooded  barbarity  in  -the  out- 
rages they  are  committing,  which  we  never  expected  the  world 


64  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

would  again  witness.  "  These  oriental  savages  even  transcend, 
in  the  ingenuity  and  extent  of  their  cruelties,  the  aboriginal  red 
men  in  our  western  forests."  Rome  alone  can  boast  an  unenvia- 
able  pre-eminence  and  refinement  in  the  work  of  torture ;  chil- 
dren are  cut  in  pieces,  joint  by  joint,  before  the  eyes  of  their 
parents,  and  then  the  parents  are  themselves  abandoned  to  the 
inflamed  passions  and  fury  of  thousands  of  men  more  vindictive 
and  merciless  than  the  tigers  of  their  native  jungles. 

If  it  be  a  fact,  as  we  have  supposed,  that  the  peculiar  char- 
acter of  the  horrible,  cruelties  which  have  been  inflicted  by  the 
Sepoys,  have  been  suggested  and  provoked  by  similar  wrongs  in- 
flicted on  the  natives  by  their  conquerors  and  rulers,  it  ought 
to  repress  all  such  ideas  of  revenge  as  was  so  liberally  breathed 
by  the  British  press,  and  is  still  to  some  extent  burning  in  the 
bosom  of  the  English  nation.  Humiliation  and  repentance 
rather  become  the  first  transgressors. 

But  let  us  look  a  little  more  particularly  into  the  immediate 
causes  of  this  singular  outbreak.  It  has  been  charged  to  the 
"  greased  cartridges."  It  has  been  imputed  to  some  apprehend- 
ed interference  of  the  government  with  the  religion  of  the  Hin- 
doos, and  of  the  Mohammedans.  Missionaries  and  missions 
have  been  brought  in  for  a  share  among  the  causes  of  the  revolt. 
Neither  of  these,  if  causes  at  all,  probably  had  much  to  do  in 
the  matter.  The  requisition  to  use  certain  offensive  cartridges  no 
doubt  furnished  the  occasion  for  the  outbreak.  It  was  the  tinder 
that  conveyed  the  spark  to  a  trail  already  laid.  But  the  causes 
were  of  a  longer  standing.  They  lay  further  back  —  more  deep- 
ly lodged  in  grievances  of  former  days. 

r-  While  speaking  of  some  of  these  more  immediate  causes,  we 
will  not  lose  sight  of  what  we  have  intimated  to  be  the  primary 
and  principal  cause,  namely,  the  retributive  hand  of  God.  Eng- 
land, in  India,  virtually  denied  her  religion,  and  now  God  has, 
for  a  time  at  least,  forsaken  her.  Kot  only  have  the  European 
rulers  of  India,  appeared  before  their  idolatrous  subjects  as  a 
people  of  no  religion  themselves,  but  they  have  been  only  too 
ready  to  extend  a  patronizing  hand  over  the  religion  of  the 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  65 

country;  but  not  only  this,  but  the  government  have  been  at 
pains  to  shut  out  from  their  schools,  and  from  their  army,  all 
knowledge  of  the  Christian  religion.  It  has  been  a  misde- 
meanor in  the  army,  a  crime  to  be  punished  by  dismission  fron, 
military  service,  for  a  Sepoy  to  become  a  Christian.  We  must 
not  forget  that  MEEKUT,  the.  very  spot  where  the  present  dreadful 
mutiny  broke  out,  was  the  place  where,  in  1814,  the  first  Sepoy 
was  dismissed  from  the  service  on  account  of  his  profession  of 
Christianity;  refusing  to  sacrifice  his  convictions  of  right  and 
duty,  and  to  do  violence  to  his  conscience  and  his  God,  at  the 
bidding  of  his  foreign  Christian  master. 

This  case  is  too  significant  to  be  passed  over  without  further 
notice.  The  Sepoy  in  question  was  a  Brahmun  of  good  caste. 
For  nine  years  he  struggled  between  duty  and  fear — the  duty  of 
yielding  to  his  honest  convictions  and  the  dictates  of  conscience, 
and  the  fear  of  encountering  the  displeasure  of  his  own  people, 
and  perhaps  the  more  serious  displeasure  of  the  Christian  govern- 
ment whose  soldier  he  was.  His  convictions  finally  prevailed ; 
and  he  applied  to  the  chaplain  of  his  regiment  for-  instruction 
and  guidance.  The  Eev.  Mr.  Fisher  received  him  gladly,  cher- 
ished his  convictions  of  duty,  and  taught  him  the  way  of  life 
more  perfectly.  From  his  hands  he  received  baptism,  and  openly 
confessed  Christ  as  his  God  and  Savior.  This  produced  no  great 
excitement  or  persecution  among  his  own  people.  Some  of  his 
friends  at  first  plied  him  with  threats  and  promises  to  deter  him, 
if  possible,  from  his  resolution.  To  them  he  replied:  "Jesus 
Christ  will  be  my  friend ;  He  will  be  a  friend  to  all  that  trust 
Him.  My  becoming  a  Christian  cannot  make  me  a  bad  soldier; 
and  I  see  no  reason  to  believe  that  government  will  cast  me  off 
any  more  than  the  officers  who  are  Christians."  Alas!  he  did 
not  know  with  what  sort  of  Christians  he  would  have  to  deal. 

His  Christian  officers  and  Christian  government  would  not 
allow  the  matter  to  rest  so.  "  The  adjutant  kindled  into  indig- 
nation (I  quote  from  the  London  Christian  Times)  at  this  unau- 
thorized conversion,  and  reported  to  his  superior  the  singular 
and  unprecedented  circumstance.  The  Governor- General,  in 


66  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

council,  took  fire  —  censured  the  chaplain  for  having  dared  to 
baptize  the  Sepoy,  and  ordered  a  court  martial  to  be  held  on  the 
case,  in  which  court  the  convert  boldly,  yet  modestly,  confessed 
Christ;  and  then  the  Marquis  of  Hastings,  acting  in  his  capacity 
of  commander-in-chief,  dismissed  Prabu  Din  from  his  regi- 
ment, as  disqualified  for  the  service,  by  his  profession  of  Chris- 
tianity." 

It  is  in  this  very  Meerut  where  the  outbreak  commenced ;  and 
these  very  Sepoys,  who  have  been  so  carefully  guarded  from  all 
contact  with  Christianity,  have  there  pounced,  like  wild  beasts 
of  prey,  upon  their  European  benefactors,  and  spread  rapine  and 
slaughter  into  every  nook  of  the  city.  "No  more  Sepoys  were 
known  to  be  converted ;  but  after  the  vigilance  of  the  Company 
had  done  its  utmost  to  keep  the  very  name  of  Christ  out  of  sight 
and  hearing,  those  pampered  Pagans  rose  up,  in  a  mass,  to  wreak 
death,  and  worse  than  death ;  first  upon  the  Christians  of  Meerut, 
and  then  upon  their  brethren,  wherever  to  be  found."  Hence- 
forth Meerut  shall  have  an  unenviable  fame ;  first,  as  the  scene 
of  a  solemn  act  of  persecution ;  and,  then,  "  of  that  most  fearful 
stroke  of  retribution,  under  which  scores  of  sufferers  endured 
the  mockery  of  the  self-same  army  in  its  mutiny."  What  a  sig- 
nal rebuke  of  the  godlessness  and  timidity  of  the  men  to  whom 
Great  Britain  "had  entrusted  the  honor  of  her  crown  and  of 
her  faith!"  Mr.  Gladstone  lately  said,  in  a  public  speech:  "He 
viewed  the  Indian  insurrection  as  a  Divine  judgment,  and  as 
teaching  the  nation  a  lesson  of  humility."  He  admitted  that 
"  measures  had  been  undertaken  there  without  a  shadow  of  jus- 
tice, and  which  were  a  perfect  scandal  to  English  history." 

The  Montreal  Witness  reiterates  the  same  sentiment.  A  resist- 
less tide  of  public  feeling  has  set  in,  rebuking  past  wrong,  and 
presaging,  on  the  part  of  England,  a  juster  state  of  feeling  in 
relation  to  her  East  India  possessions.  The  Witness  says : 

"  Had  the  Sepoys  and  native  princes  conducted  the  war  with 
fairness — using  prisoners  well,  and  setting  women  and  children 
free  —  the  general  sympathies  of  mankind  would  have  been  with 
them.  Every  nation  but  Britain  would  have  been  on  their  side, 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  67 

as  far,  at  least,  as  prudence  permitted;  and  even  in  Britain  a 
very  strong  feeling  would  have  favored  them." 

A  concession,  this,  which  betokens  that  better  feeling  which  is 
fast  rising  in  England ;  and  promises  results,  from  her  present 
disasters,  salutary  and  far-reaching. 

1.  N~o  doubt  impatience  of  foreign  rule,  especially  on  the  part 
of  the  Mohammedans  and  high  caste  Brahmuns,  had  much  to 
do  in  the  origin  of  the  present  insurrection.  The  iron  rule  of 
the  English,  a  remembrance  of  past  exactions  and  cruelties, 
and  restiveness  under  burdens  not  yet  removed,  have  been 
rankling  in  the  breasts  of  the  oppressed,  till  at  length  they  have 
found  a  terrific  vent. 

We  are  struck  with  the  prophetic  spirit  of  the  following  lines, 
written  some  twenty-five  years  ago  by  a  brother  of  George  Can- 
ning. It  appears  in  a  remarkable  poem,  entitled  "  India"  The 
writer  had  enjoyed  many  advantages  for  studying  the  native 
character.  He  sums  up  the  result  of  his  official  experience  at 
Delhi,  Cawnpore  and  other  places,  in  the  following  prophetic  lines : 

' '  There  needs  but  some   surpassing   act  of  wrong 
To  break   the   patience   that  has  bent   so   long ; 
There   need  but   some   short,   sudden  burst  of  ire, 
May  chance  to  set  the  general  thing  on  fire; 
There  need  but  some  fair  prospect  of  relief, 
Enough  to  seize  the  general  belief; 
Some   holy  juggle,   some  absurd  caprice, 
To  raise  one  common  struggle  for  release. 
***** 

Think  not  that  prodigies  must  rule  a  state, 

That   great   revulsions   spring  from   something  great; 

The   softest  curl  that  floats   on  beauty's   brow, 

The   smallest  leaf  that  flutters  on  the  bough, 

Is   not   more   lightly   easy  to  derange, 

Than   human   minds   with   cause   to   wish  for   change. 

Out  breaks   at   once   the  far  -  resounding   cry, 

The   standard   of  revolt   is   raised   on   high, 

The   murky   cloud  has   glided   from  the   sun, 

The   tale   of    England's   tyranny  is   done, 

And   torturing   vengeance   grins   as   she   destroys, 

Till   Secil's   vespers   seem  the   game   of   boys." 


68  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

2.  Hatred  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  the  hope  to  extermi- 
nate it,  root  and  branch,  from  their  country,  has  probably  con- 
tributed a  no  inconsiderable  share  in  the  present  rising  of  the 
Sepoys.  Christianity  in  India  has  been  as  the  stone  cut  out  of  the 
mountain  without  hands.  Without  power  or  governmental  aid, 
without  observation,  and,  seemingly,  without  adequate  means,  it 
has  strangely  increased;  slowly,  imperceptibly,  and  surely  dis- 
placing the  gigantic  and  hoary  systems  of  the  ancient  religions, 
and,  with  a  life  more  and  more  vigorous,  taking  possession  of 
the  native  mind.  Superstitions  as  venerable  as  time,  and  usages 
and  institutions  that  date  back  far  into  the  mists  of  ages,  are 
numbered  among  the  works  and  the  things  which  must  pass  away. 
Priestly  pride  is  scandalized ;  and  hating  and  fearing  the  rising 
Star  of  Bethlehem,  priestly  power  and  influence  have  risen  up  to 
crush  it.  And  who  will  not  recognize  the  hand  of  retributive 
justice,  in  the  fact  that  the  Bengal  army,  from  which  government 
made  the  most  sedulous  efforts  to  preserve  its  Sepoys  intact  from 
all  Christian  influences,  was  the  first  to  raise  the  banner  of  revolt? 
But  in  despite  of  the  unchristian  policy  of  a  Christian  govern- 
ment, and  the  ungodly  example  of  too  many  of  India's  nomi- 
nally Christian  rulers,  the  religion  of  the  Cross  has  made  such 
progress  as  to  excite  a  serious  alarm  that  it  will  yet  supplant 
both  the  religion  of  Brahmu  and  of  the  Crescent.  Such  a  pre- 
sentiment has,  for  years  past,  greatly  to  the  chagrin  of  the 
priestly  craft,  possessed  the  minds  of  the  masses  of  the  people. 
And  no  wonder  there  should  be  one  more  desperate  strike  for 
the  altars  and  the  gods  of  the  ancient  faith.  Brahmuns,  even, 
were  yielding  to  the  conquering  banners  of  Christianity ;  proud 
Moslems  were  being  converted,  and  all  castes  and  nationalities 
were  beginning  to  bow  before  the  rising  Star  of  Bethlehem. 
The  present  Sepoy  war  is,  doubtless,  to  a  considerable  extent,  a 
religious  war. 

8.  "We  discover  a  reason  as  well  as  a  cause  of  the  mutiny  in 
the  constitution  of  the  Anglo-Indian  army,  and  more  especially 
in  the  Bengal  army.  The  army  in  India  is  composed  principally 
of  the  natives  of  the  country,  called  Sepoys,  officered  by  Euro- 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  -69 

peans.  These  Sepoy  forces,  at  the  commencement  of  the  mutiny, 
amounted  to  some  300,000 ;  while  the  number  of  European  sol- 
diers was  comparatively  a  handful.  These  Sepoy  regiments  have 
generally  been  found  faithful.  An  outbreak  at  this  late  day  was 
scarcely  thought  possible ;  yet  all  the  elements  of  insurrection 
were  there,  and  needed  only  a  sufficiently  exciting  cause,  and 
some  leading  spirits,  to  blow  the  latent  fire  into  a  blaze.  And  the 
Bengal  army,  in  which  the  mutiny  began,  was  a  field  yet  more 
fearfully  adapted  to  such  a  revolt.  Composed  chiefly  of  Brah- 
muns  and  high  caste  Mohammedans,  the  wonder  is,  that  an  army 
of  such  materials  did  not  mutiny  before.  It  was,  in  some  special 
sense,  a  godless  army —  not  only  godless  because  composed  of  Pa- 
gans, but  godless  in  the  policy  of  government  toward  it.  It  was 
most  cautiously  guarded  against  all  Christian  influences  which 
might  otherwise  be  brought  to  bear  upon  it.  There  was,  there- 
fore, a  twofold  reason  why  a  rebellion  should  break  out  there. 
The  constitution  of  the  army  was  such  as  to  make  it  a  fit  agency 
for  such  a  rebellion ;  and  the  policy  of  government  had  been  such 
as  to  make  that  rebellion  a  fit  retribution  for  their  time-serving 
policy.  A  paragraph,  from  a  late  letter  of  a  resident  in  India, 
will  confirm  what  I  have  just  said : 

"  The  Bengal  native  army  has  always  been  petted  and  pam- 
pered. It  contains  a  great  number  of  Brahmuns.  These  men 
have  dictated  to  their  officers,  rather  than  their  officers  to  them. 
Their  unwillingness  to  go  on  foreign  service,  (to  Burmah  or  China, 
for  instance,)  because  their  caste  would  be  lost  in  crossing  the 
waters,  secured  them  enlistment  on  the  condition  that  they 
should  not  leave  their  own  country.  Their  officers  have  been  ac- 
customed to  boast  of  the  high  caste  of  their  men,  and  scornfully 
contrast  it  with  the  lower  caste  of  the  Madras  Sepoys.  Whence, 
then,  has  the  insane  desire  of  re-establishing  native  rule  arisen  ? 
Has  it  originated  in  a  population  among  whom  missionaries  have 
statedly  labored  ?  "No.  It  sprang  from  the  Bengal  native  army, 
the  very  men  who  were  guarded  from  missionary  contact,  whose 
caste  was  so  tenderly  cherished,  whose  religion  was  so  sedulously 
protected,  and  whose  heathenish  prejudices  were  so  fully  fed. 


70  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

When  such  prejudices  are  fostered,  they  not  only  themselves 
grow,  but,  like  the  plantain-tree,  they  put  forth  new  shoots  from 
their  roots.  New  and  artificial  prejudices  are  created.  Matters 
wax  worse  and  worse.  The  Sepoys,  of  course,  see  their  power. 
They  learn  boldness  from  the  pliancy  of  their  masters.  "What 
more  natural  than  that  the  desire  of  native  sovereignty  should 
spring  up  among  such  men,  gather  strength,  and  at  last  culmi- 
nate in  rebellion?  Fostering  the  prejudices  of  the  Bengal  native 
army  has  been  the  seed  of  this  mutiny.  That  army  has  long 
been  notorious  for  its  lax  discipline.  The  spoiled  child  has 
grown  to  be  a  turbulent  man,  full  of  the  spirit  of  disobedience. 
What  wonder  that  such  an  army  should  watch  its  opportunity, 
and,  when  India  is  almost  denuded  of  European  troops,  rise  and 
assert  its  independence  ?  " 

4.  We  may  name  as  another  cause  of  the  mutiny,  misgovem- 
ment,  and  the  bad  example  of  European  officers  and  residents  in 
India.  It  was  a  gigantic  blunder,  to  say  nothing  of  the  enor- 
mous moral  obliquity,  that  England  did  not  rule  India  as  it  be- 
came a  great  Christian  to  bear  rule  in  a  heathen  land.  It  was  a 
misgovernment — a  fatal  mistake  that  has  drawn  after  it  conse- 
quences of  the  gravest  character.  Had  the  English,  as  the  domi- 
nant party  in  India,  not  denied  their  religion,  and,  by  example 
at  least,  taught  men  so — had  they  respected  themselves  and  hon- 
ored God  as  their  Sovereign  King,  he  would  not  have  left  them 
to  these  severe  rebukes.  Nations,  as  truly  as  individuals,  are 
made  to  feel  the  truth  of  the  Divine  Oracle,  "  Them  that  honor 
me,  I  will  honor."  . 

But  the  defection  is  not  all  of  a  religious  character.  The  his- 
tory of  British  rule  in  India  has  been  characterized  by  extortions, 
exactions,  severities  and  outrages ;  the  remembrance  of  which 
has,  from  generation  to  generation,  been  as  a  fire  smoldering  in 
the  hidden  recesses  of  the  native  mind,  till  at  length  the  heaving 
volcano  has  exploded.  | 

In  the  history  of  English  conquests  in  India,  we  meet  details 
of  treacheries,  massacres,  extortions,  scarcely  less  appalling  than 
have  disgraced  the  present  warfare  of  the  Sepoys.  We  are 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  71 

shocked  at  the  idea  of  mutilating,  torturing,  cutting  off  fingers, 
toes,  ears,  noses,  breasts;  cutting  up  joint  by  joint,  and  exposing 
women  and  girls  naked,  and  subjecting  them  to  indignities  that 
may  not  be  named,  and  can  scarcely  believe  that  untutored  sav- 
ages are  capable  of  such  enormities;  yet  we  are  not  the  less 
shocked  when  we  learn  that,  in  days  that  are  gone,  (but  not  for- 
gotten,) English  officials  did  things  very  much  like  them. 

But  the  history  of  England  in  India  has  another  phase,  less 
hideous  only  because  less  seen ;  but  were  its  loathsome  features 
to  appear,  they  would  yet  more  shock  all  the  sensibilities  of  the 
virtuous  mind.  The  great  day  of  revelations  will  divulge  a  his- 
tory of  unblushing  concubinage  such  as  the  world  never  knew. 
"When  we  admit  into  the  account  the  long  list  of  transgressions  on 
this  score — the  long-continued  and  systematic  invasions  on  female 
virtue,  and  too  often  on  the  sanctity  of  the  family — we  are  not 
surprised  that  the  day  of  reckoning  should  come,  and  that  their 
own  countrywomen  should  be  made  to  suffer  a  like  fate.  Sad 
it  is,  that,  in  this  dispensation  of  partial  adjustments,  the  inno- 
cent should  suffer  for  the  guilty.  But  so  it  is.  All  will  be  ad- 
justed at  last  on  the  principles  of  the  strictest  justice  and  the  most 
enlarged  benevolence. 

5.  Long-continued  disaffection,  and  the  unheeded  grievances 
of  native  princes  and  chiefs,  has  had  much  to  do  as  a  cause  of 
the  present  revolt.  After  being  conquered  under  one  pretext  or 
another,  some  have  been  pensioned  off  by  government,  and  sent 
to  some  place  of  pilgrimage,  or  other  holy  place ;  others  have 
been  allowed  to  retain  the  show  of  royalty,  without  its  power  or 
independence,  or  been  otherwise  disposed  of,  so  as  to  be  the  least 
troublesome,  and  the  most  profitable,  to  their  foreign  masters. 
But  what  is  worse,  the  government  is  freely  accused  (by  their  own 
countrymen)  of  not  acting  in  good  faith  in  fulfilling,  toward  the 
prostrate  princes,  the  stipulations  of  their  own  treaties.  Their 
claims  have  too  often  been  disregarded ;  obligations  to  them 
have,  on  the  slightest  pretext,  been  repudiated;  and,  as  they 
became  weaker  and  less  to  be  feared,  provinces  and  pensions, 
which  had  been  assigned  them,  were^withheld ;  and  the  claim- 


72  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

ants  were  not  unfrequently  subjected  to  the  most  expensive  and 
vexatious  processes,  before  they  were  brought  to  the  humiliating 
and  provoking  conclusion,  that  their  claims  were  but  the  claims 
of  the  weak  against  the  strong.  "  Such  has  been  the  case,"  says 
an  English  writer,  "  of  N~ENA  SAHIB  ;  and  such  has  been  the  case 
of  the  Rajah  of  Coorg;  of  the  Ranee  of  Jhansi,  where  another 
frightful  massacre  took  place ;  and  such  has  been  the  case  with 
numbers  of  Indians  of  rank,  with  whom  we  have  not  dealt 
either  wisely  or  well.  Far  be  it  from  us  to  offer  even  the  shadow 
of  an  apology  for  the  authors  of  the  atrocities  which  have 
plunged  nearly  half  of  the  nation  into  mourning ;  but,  at  the 
same  time,  we  cannot  forbear  expressing  our  opinion,  which  is 
now  generally  felt  and  acknowledged,  that  to  the  gross  misman- 
agement of  our  Indian  Empire,  and  the  manifest  injustice  of 
which  the  East  India  Company  has  been  so  frequently  guilty, 
may  be  mainly  attributed  the  deplorable  state  of  affairs  which 
now  exist. 

"  The  grievance  of  Nena  Sahib  was  simply  this :  The  East 
India  Company  guaranteed  to  the  late  Peshwa,  his  heirs  and 
successors,  a  certain  pension.  The  Peshwa  died  without  heirs 
born  of  his  body ;  but,  previous  to  his  death,  he  adopted  Sree- 
nath  (N"ena  Sahib).  Now,  according  to  the  Hindoo  law,  an 
adopted  son  is  entitled  to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  an  heir 
begotten  of  the  body  of  the  deceased.  According  to  the  Hindoo 
law,  ISTena  Sahib  was  entitled  to  the  pension  of  the  Peshwa; 
but  the  claim,  as  before  stated,  was  not  allowed.  It  is  a  pity 
that  the  East  India  Company  have  not  been  consistent  in  their 
decisions  upon  this  head.  In  some,  indeed  in  very  many  cases, 
(where  the  pension  has  been  very  considerable,  or  the  amount  of 
territory  to  be  'absorbed'  extremely  profitable,)  the  Hindoo  law 
has  been  shelved,  and  the  claimant  favored  with  a  letter  from  the 
Secretary  to  Government,  informing  him  that  the  l  Governor- 
General  in  Council  has  dismissed  his  petition,  but  that  the  ordi- 
nary channels  of  redress  are  open  to  him.'  He  sends  home  an 
agent,  who  haunts  the  India-house  and  the  Board  of  Control. 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  73 

At  both  places  he  is 'referred  to  the  local  government' — the 
local  government  which  has  already  decided  against  him." 

N'ena  Sahib,  the  present  commander-in-chief  of  the  Sepoy 
forces,  and  the  author  of  atrocities  more  horrible  than  we  had 
supposed  humanity  capable  of  in  the  present  age  of  civilization 
and  human  progress,  stands  as  one  of  these  unsuccessful  claim- 
ants. He  had  spent  large  sums  of  money  in  the  unsuccessful  pros- 
ecution of  his  claim  in  England ;  and  chagrined,  irritated,  and 
smarting  under  a  sense  of  injustice,  of  which  he  saw  no  redress 
under  British  rule,  he  bottled  his  wrath  till  the  day  of  vengeance 
came  —  and  what  a  day  of  vengeance  has  he  made  it !  In  vain 
you  search  the  annals  of  history  for  deeds  more  appalling.  Other 
native  princes  have  waited  for  this  day,  that  they,  too,  might  pay 
off  in  blood,  pillage,  and  torture,  some  old  family  grudge  of  an 
hundred  years'  festering. 

Having  mentioned  JSTena  Sahib,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  say  a 
word  more.  This  man,  so  notorious  in  the  annals  of  cruelty  and 
bloodshed,  is  a  veritable  pupil  of  the  government  schools — the 
genuine  handiwork  of  the  East  India  Company's  policy  in  that 
country.  In  such  men  as  the  ]^ena,  the  government  are  reaping 
what  they  have  been  sowing.  He  is  just  what  this  policy  has 
made  him.  Rev.  Mr.  Williams,  Baptist  Missionary  from  Ben- 
gal, in  a  speech  before  a  missionary  meeting  at  Southampton, 
said  that  he  knew  Kena  Sahib  intimately,  and  bore  testimony  to 
his  mental  accomplishments,  and  to  his  polished  and  gentle- 
manly manners.  ISTena  Sahib  was  educated  in  one  of  the  Eng- 
lish Government  schools  in  India,  where  almost  every  book  is 
studied  but  the  Bible,  and  everything  taught  but  Christianity. 
The  greatest  enemies  to  British  rule,  and  to  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel,  in  India,  were  men  like  !N"ena  Sahib  and  others,  who 
have  been  educated  in  the  government  colleges ;  most  of  whom 
were  professedly  deists,  but  in  reality  atheists. 


74  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 


CHAPTER    V. 

What  God  is  bringing  out  of  the  Sepoy  mutiny,  and  what  will  probably  be  the 

final  results. 

BUT  we  take  yet  another  view  of  England's  disasters,  and 
of  India's  vengeance,  in  the  late  war. 

"What  is  God  bringing  out  of  it  ?  and  what  will  He  finally  bring 
out  of  it  f  All  who  see  in  these  civil,  social  and  moral  earth- 
quakes and  bursting  volcanoes,  a  supreme  overruling  agent,  so 
controlling  the  whole  as  to  bring  out  of  it  results  most  wise  and 
benevolent,  will  have  no  doubt  that  such  shall  be  the  end  of 
their  present  dreadful  warfare.  Already,  indeed,  do  we  see  such 
results,  and  these  we  may  take  as  the  sure  harbingers  of  other 
results  yet  more  far-reaching  and  beneficent. 

Already  the  English  nation  feels  rebuked  and  humbled.  She 
sees  the  retributive  hand  reached  out  over  her,  and  she  trembles. 
The  nation  mourns,  and  looks  with  fearful  misgivings  at  the 
things  that  may  shortly  come  upon  her.  She  is  brought  to  con- 
fess her  sins,  and,  by  humiliation  and  prayer,  to  seek  the  return 
of  Heaven's  favor.  Should  England  reconquer  India,  (as  we 
hope  with  the  whole  heart  she  will,)  we  may  expect  her  future 
rule  in  that  country  will  be  permeated,  as  it  never  has  been, 
with  the  high  and  pure  principles  of  political  wisdom  and 
justice,  and  the  practice  of  that  holy  faith,  which  have  made 
England  what  she  is.  May  she  never  forget  again  that  it  is 
righteousness  that  exalteth  a  nation,  and  that  sin  is  a  reproach 
to  any  people.  In  saying  this,  we  do  not  forget  the  burning  re- 
proach that  rests  like  the  incubus  of  political  death  and  moral 
perdition  on  our  own  dear  America.  May  all  England  pray  for 
us,  and  the  Lord  have  mercy  on  us ! 

England  has  been  notoriously  a  proud  nation,  as  well  as  op- 
pressive. Her  present  position  is  fitted  to  humble  her,  and  make 
her  feel  her  dependence  on  the  King  of  Nations. 

The  church,  of  every  name,  in  the  British  relm,  is  receiving, 
too,  salutary  lessons.  The  conviction  rushes  upon  her,  that,  if 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  75 

she  had  done  her  duty  toward  that  benighted  land — if  she  had 
employed  to  the  extent  she  ought  the  unwonted  facilities  which 
Providence  had  put  in  her  hands  for  the  renovation  of  that 
people  —  these  things  never  would  have  happened.  The  difficul- 
ties in  India  have  not  risen  from  native  Christians,  but  from, 
those  from  whom  Christianity  has  been  sedulously  excluded. 
A  pure  Christianity  alone  can  secure  to  England  the  loyalty  of 
India.  Late  transactions  have  done  much  to  force  this  convic- 
tion on  the  English  mind.  And  not  only  is  the  present  state  of 
things  in  India  fitted  to  humble  the  English  church  and  to  rouse 
her  to  renewed  efforts  for  the  evangelization  of  that  great  country, 
but  the  American  church,  the  Christian  church  universal,  is 
taught  a  similar  lesson.  All  Christendom  is  concerned  in  the 
conversion  of  India  to  Christ ;  and  had  she  done  her  duty,  the 
world  would  have  been  spared  one  of  the  awfulest  spectacles 
ever  witnessed. 

Again,  the  character  of  the  present  race  of  the  heathen  has 
been  fearfully  unfolded  in  the  bloody  transactions  of  the  present 
revolt.  "We  are  startled  at  such  exhibitions  of  cold-blooded 
ferocity ;  and  are  made  vividly  to  see  what  the  world  would  be, 
should  such  a  people  be  allowed  to  have  dominion.  Never  had 
the  truly  philanthropic  mind  a  stronger  argument  for  the 
speedy  evangelizing  of  the  whole  world.  If  such  be  the  char- 
acter of  the  Hindoos,  whom  we  have  supposed  to  be  a  very 
quiet,  inoffensive  people,  what  might  we  expect,  when  their  turn 
shall  come  to  rise,  will  be  the  strength  and  malignity  of  the 
more  ignorant  and  savage  portions  of  the  heathen  world?  All 
Christendom  will  now  see,  that,  in  self-defense,  as  well  as  a  mat- 
ter of  duty,  she  must  convert  the  heathen. 

Another  good  result  which  has  already  come  out  of  the  Indian 
catastrophe  is,  that  India  and  her  people,  her  religion  and  insti- 
tutions, her  wants  and  her  woes,  are  better  known.  In  America, 
little  has  ever  been  known  of  India  in  any  respect  —  not  enough 
to  have  created  any  general  interest  in  her  history  or  litera- 
ture ;  and  in  England  she  has  scarcely  been  better  known,  except 
as  avarice  and  ambition  have  introduced  her  to  notice.  A  new 


76  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

fc~  - 

interest  is  now  thrown  over  the  whole  country  and  all  that  be- 
longs to  it.  Maps  are  consulted,  books  read,  and  travelers  ques- 
tioned, and  their  narratives  read,  as  never  before.  Every  source 
of  information  is  now  eagerly  resorted  to,  and  the  whole  reading 
world  have  probably  more  than  doubled  their  amount  of  acquaint- 
ance with  India  in  a  single  year ;  and  knowing  India,  the  church 
will  feel  a  new  interest  in,  and  may  be  expected  to  be  roused  to 
new  energy  for,  her  conversion  to  Christianity.  "We  had  thought 
to  make  a  quiet  and  easy  work  of  it.  But  the  "  strong  man  " 
will  not  yield  up  his  long-cherished  possessions  so  easy.  The 
great  battle  is  to  be  fought  —  Gog  and  Mogog  to  be  met  and 
vanquished. 

God  has  doubtless  large  and  benevolent  purposes  to  answer 
through  these  commotions  and  bloodshed.  When  all  parties 
shall  have  been  humbled  and  duly  punished,  British  pride  re- 
buked, and  the  English  and  American  church  be  humbled  and 
roused  to  the  importance  of  the  conversion  of  India,  we  may 
expect  that  India  will  be  restored  to  England,  or  given  to  a 
nation  that  will  better  fulfill  her  destiny  there ;  at  least,  we  may 
feel  assured  that  the  result  shall  be  for  the  furtherance  of  the 
Gospel.  The  only  safeguard  to  English  dominion  and  author- 
ity in  India,  is  the  thorough  Christianization  of  the  whole 
country. 

Another  result  of  the  war  will  probably  be  a  great  destruction 
of  the  native  population,  the  annihilation  of  Mohammedan  in- 
fluence and  power,  and  the  extinction  of  caste  and  all  govern- 
mental power  on  the  part  of  the  Hindoos.  The  time  may  have 
come  for  the  extinguishment  of  all  that  remains  of  the  native 
prestige,  and  the  final  establishment  of  a  higher  and  a  better  state 
of  things.  They  that  watch  the  mighty  wheels  of  Providence 
in  their  onward  march  in  human  progress,  are  accustomed  to 
see  that  there  is  a  "sword"  that  goeth  before  Him.  The  de- 
struction of  enemies,  of  the  heathen,  has  always  held  a  promi- 
nent place  in  the  movements  of  Providence.  "We  may  expect 
it  shall  be  so  now. 

Already   we   see  no   doubtful    indications   that  England   is 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  77 

humbling  herself  under  her  chastisements.  She  is  searching  out 
her  sin  and  making  confession  before  her  God,  and  pouring  her 
supplications  into  the  ear  of  the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath.  The 
Queen  proclaims  a  day  of  fasting,  humiliation  and  prayer,  and 
the  nation  falls  prostrate  before  the  God  of  Heaven.  This  day, 
we  are  told,  was  very  universally  observed,  and  with  great  inter- 
est and  solemnity.  For  scarcely  a  town,  neighborhood  or  family 
are  left  unscathed  by  the  dreadful  calamity ;  and  it  is  a  matter 
of  momentous  interest  to  observe  the  spirit  of  the  numerous 
assemblies  which  convened  on  that  ddy,  and  the  character  of 
the  teachings,  and  the  spirit  of  the  prayers,  which  occupied  the 
minds  of  those  assembled.  From  these  we  may  form  some 
judgment  as  to  what  shall  be  the  influence  of  those  untoward 
events  on  the  minds  of  the  British  nation,  and  what  shah1  be 
the  future  policy  of  that  nation  in  India,  should  it  please  the 
Great  Disposer  of  nations  to  perpetuate  the  English  govern- 
ment in  that  country.  The  following  paragraphs,  taken  from 
English  papers,  speak  no  doubtful  language  as  to  what  was  the 
prevalent  feeling  on  the  occasion  referred  to.  And  in  these  we 
see  the  star  of  hope  rising  above  one  of  the  darkest  clouds 
which  ever  darkened  the  English  horizon.  Every  indication  that 
the  nation  is  returning  to  God,  is  a  sure  presage  of  Heaven's  re- 
turning smile  on  the  nation.  One  of  the  leading  papers  of 
Great  Britain  exclaims : 

"  Are  the  lessons  of  history  to  be  forever  lost  upon  us  ?  Have 
we  forgotten  the  great  struggle  of  the  last  century  with  the 
American  Colonies,  now  the  United  States  ?  The  language  then 
was  precisely  that  which  is  being  so  generally  held  now  con- 
cerning India.  Heaven  forbid  that  it  should  be  attended  with 
similar  results !  There  are  deeds  beyond  the  might  of  armies. 
The  natives  of  India,  notwithstanding  their  physical  weakness 
and  moral  impotence,  are,  if  they  choose,  more  than  a  match, 
many  times  over,  for  ah1  the  troops  that  England  can  afford  to 
keep  up  in  India.  Friendship,  not  force,  a  sense  of  sound  ad- 
vantage, not  a  sense  of  iron  power,  are  the  feelings  on  which  we 
must  rely.  The  tendency  of  every  passion  is  to  produce  its  like. 


78  INDIA   AND   ITS    PEOPLE. 

Cries  of  *  vengeance !'  will  only  awaken  feelings  of  hatred  and 
abhorrence,  in  much  increased  intensity !     Few  can  fight,  but 
ah1  can  detest ;  and  detestation  is  a  plant  that  will  grow  through 
out  every  rod  of  the  soil  in  India." 

On  the  great  fast  day  the  sin  of  misgovernment  was  mos' 
freely  and  sincerely  confessed,  and  especially  in  reference  to  thf 
treatment  which  had  been  bestowed  on  the  cause  of  Christianity 
in  India.  On  this  subject  the  London  Patriot  says  : 

"  That  our  Indian  Government  has  been  unfaithful  to  the 
paramount  claims  of  Christianity;  that,  at  the  bidding  of  a 
miserable  political  expediency,  it  has  consented,  if  not  to  abjure 
its  religion,  at  least  to  hide  it,  and  place  all  possible  obstacles  in 
the  way  of  its  advancement,  no  one  can  deny;  and  to  such  an 
extent  has  this  been  done,  that,  had  it  not  been  for  the  inherent 
vitality  of  Christianity,  it  must,  as  far  as  the  natives  are  con- 
cerned, have  been  completely  extinguished  and  destroyed." 

The  same  paper  quotes  from  a  sermon,  and  approves  of  the 
following  comprehensive  and  eloquent  passage : 

"  From  the  day  when  the  British  missionary  was  compelled  to 
take  refuge  under  a  foreign  flag,  and  when  he  was  conveyed 
from  the  ship  to  the  jail  for  the  great  crime  of  coming  to  India 
to  preach  Christianity,  to  the  dismissal  of  the  Sepoy  from  the 
Bengal  army  because  he  became  a  Christian,  and  thence  to  the 
present  hour,  the  uniform  policy  of  the  East  India  Company  has 
been  one  of  hostility  to  missions.  In  the  great  conflict  between 
Christianity  and  Paganism,  its  help  has  uniformly  been  arrayed 
on  the  side  of  the  latter.  Hindooism  has  its  subsidies  out  of  the 
government  treasury,  and  Mohammedanism  has  its  subsidies, 
but  Christianity  has  been  prohibited  from  opening  its  mouth. 
The  Company  have  rebuilt  idol  temples,  and  re-decorated  pa- 
godas ;  it  has  compelled  Christian  soldiers  to  officiate  at  Pagan 
festivals,  and  Christian  officers  to  collect  Pagan  revenues  —  com- 
pelling men  like  Sir  Peregrine  Maitland  to  leave  its  service  on 
account  of  its  identification  with  idolatry,  and  men  like  Carey 
and  Dr.  Judson  to  leave  its  shores  on  account  of  its  opposition 
to  Christian  missionaries.  It  has  closed  its  schools  against 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  79 

Christianity,  and  prohibited  even  conversion  to  it  in  its  service. 
It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  our  Indian  Government  has 
mainly  upheld  the  decaying  strength  of  idolatry  and  caste,  and 
more  than  any  other  power  neutralized  the  moral  influence  of 
Christianity.  And  now  that  Lord  Canning  has  ventured  to  be- 
come a  subscriber  to  certain  Christian  societies,  it  has  become 
the  ground  of  remonstrance  in  the  British  House  of  Lords. 
Even  on  the  low  ground  of  policy,  this  has  been  a  blunder  as 
great  as,  religiously,  it  has  been  a  sin.  It  has  shorn  us  of  the 
moral  power  of  religious  character  and  sincerity.  It  has  nur- 
tured the  elements  which  are  our  most  deadly  antagonists.  That 
which  is  morally  wrong  can  never  be  politically  right." 

Another  English  writer  on  Indian  affairs  says  :  "  Instead  of 
taking  a  high  stand  as  a  Christian  power,  and  avowing  its  belief 
in  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  as  the  religion  for  man,  it  has,  with 
almost  laborious  care,  appeared  to  aim  at  producing  the  impres- 
sion that  Hindooism  and  Mohammedanism  were  to  be  nurtured 
and  conserved.  It  has  acted  the  part  of  guardian  to  heathen 
temples  and  shrines.  It  has  collected  the  revenue  for  Jugger- 
naut and  Krishna,  and  bestowed  upon  idols  costly  gifts.  It  has 
drawn  up  its  troops  in  military  array  to  salute  and  honor  false 
gods  and  sanction  the  grossest  idolatry.  It  has  favored  caste 
and  sided  with  the  Brahmun.  It  has  discouraged  Christianity. 
Under  the  plea  of  full  toleration  of  Hindooism,  it  has  been 
either  regardless  of  truth  or  intolerant  to  Christians." 

The  Church  Missionary  Society  of  England,  in  an  official 
paper  on  the  state  of  affairs  in  India,  and  the  relations  of  gov- 
ernment to  the  progress  of  the  Gospel  there,  speak  freely  of  the 
exceptionable  course  of  the  East  India  Government,  and  unhesi- 
tatingly charge  the  sin  of  the  present  rebellion  on  the  time- 
serving policy  of  the  British  Government.  They  reiterate,  what 
we  have  already  repeated,  that  "  the  instrument  of  Divine  judg- 
ment has  been  the  cherished  high  caste  Bengal  army,  from 
which  the  first  Sepoy  Christian  convert  was  expelled,  through 
caste  prejudices,  in  the  year  1819,  by  order  of  the  Governor- 
General,  after  an  official  inquiry  at  Meerut,  in  which  the  soldier 


80  INDIA  AXD   ITS   PEOPLE. 

was  acquitted  of  every  charge  except  that  of  becoming  a  Chris- 
tian on  conviction.  At  Meerut  the  first  blood  was  shed  by 
Sepoys.  Whoso  is  wise  shall  observe  these  things,  and  will 
mark  in  this  and  other  peculiarities  of  the  judgment,  the  reflec- 
tion of  our  national  sins." 

Eev.  Dr.  J.  "W.  Alexander,  in  a  recent  letter  from  Scotland, 
states  that  on  the  occasion  of  the  recent  national  fast  in  Great 
Britain,  the  most  candid  confession  of  national  sins,  including 
the  opium  business,  was  fairly  uttered.  He  quotes  the  following 
striking  rebuke  of  the  Government  of  India  from  one  of  the 
sermons  delivered  on  that  day :  "  It  is  calculated  that  a  hundred 
thousand  acres  of  the  richest  lands  watered  by  the  Ganges  are 
devoted  to  the  growth  of  the  supply  of  opium.  These  are  the 
very  regions  which  the  revolt  is  now  desolating.  The  profit  which 
the  Company  derives  is  very  great.  For  that  which  costs  about 
$175,  they  receive  $525 — the  aggregate  is  about  twenty-five  mil- 
lions. This  money  has  come  to  be,  what  faith  was  at  the  Refor- 
mation, the  article  of  a  '  standing  or  falling'  government.  It  is 
felt  that  the  solvency,  and  consequently  the  existence,  of  the 
Company  depends  upon  it.  The  principal  portion  of  this  great 
revenue  is  extracted  from  the  Chinese.  The  Government  of 
British  India,  in  league  with  the  vile  passions  of  the  Chinese 
populace,  has  proved  too  strong  for  the  Chinese  Government. 
There  is  not  a  more  humiliating  fact  on  the  face  of  the  world  or 
in  the  history  of  man  than  this :  it  is  by  becoming  the  sole  and 
exclusive  purveyors  to  the  gigantic  vice  which  is  degrading  and 
destroying  the  Chinese  population,  that  the  Government  of  Brit- 
ish India  maintain  their  solvency !  " 

"  The  East  India  Company,"  says  the  London  Times,  "  steadily 
resisted  the  invasion  of  Christianity,  step  by  step,  into  their  un- 
hallowed soil.  They  fought  hard,  first,  against  the  admission  of 
missionaries,  then  against  regular  chaplains,  then  against  a  bishop ; 
and  when  poor  Bishop  Middleton  went  at  last,  he  landed,  lived,  and 
worked  and  died,  under  a  constant,  unrelenting  protest  by  the 
authorities,  who  were  determined  to  show  the  natives  that  they 
had  nothing  to  do  with  him.  The  present  position  of  a  bishop 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 


81 


in  India,  such  as  it  is,  we  owe  to  the  great  abilities  and  the  sin- 
gularly engaging  qualities  of  Heber." 

And  not  only  the  Times,  but  leading  statesmen,  members  of 
Parliament,  and  speakers  in  all  sorts  of  public  meetings,  are 
speaking  out  without  hesitancy,  urging  the  duty  of  henceforth 
giving  a  decided  Christian  character  to  British  rule  in  India. 
"  Every  vestige  of  the  past  exclusive  policy,"  they  say,  "  should 
be  made  to  disappear,  and  it  should  be  known  that  the  govern- 
ment is  a  Christian  government,  and  desires  all  the  people  to  be 
Christians."  Thus  light  may  spring  out  of  darkness,  Christians 
be  awakened  to  new  missionary  efforts,  and  the  government  be  led 
to  shape  its  legislation,  and  modify  its  educational  and  general 
policy,  so  as  to  favor  as  much  as  practicable  the  interests  of 
Christianity.  ^' 

These  are  no  doubtful  indications  that  better  days  are  reserved 
for  ill-fated  India,  and  that  she  shall  yet  be  blessed  through  the 
sons  of  Japhet.  At  a  late  Bible  meeting  at  Manchester,  a  pro- 
posal is  made  to  raise  £250,000  (more  than  a  million  of  dollars) 
for  the  distribution  of  5,000,000  Bibles  in  India.  This  looks  as 
if  England  were  awake  to  her  duty  to  her  Indian  Empire. 
"  The  Christian  principle  of  England  has  been  roused  by  the 
discovery  of  the  oft  repeated  fact  that  India  has  been  kept  in 
heathenism  by  the  anti-Christian  policy  of  the  Company ;  and 
now  that  the  truth  has  burst  upon  the  public  mind,  the-  churches 
of  England  are  rising  in  their  might,  demanding  an  instant 
change  of  policy,  and  preparing  to  execute,  on  a  grand  scale,  the 
work  of  evangelizing  that  benighted  land." 

Others  propose  that  "  memorial "  churches  shall  be  erected,  by 
general  contribution,  at  Delhi  and  Cawnpore.  With  the  return 
of  peace,  say  others,  we  expect  to  behold  the  power  of  religious 
zeal  exhibited,  as  it  never  was  before,  in  giving  the  Gospel  to 
India.  These  are  noble  purposes,  and  we  bid  them  God-speed. 
And  not  this  alone ;  but  with  open  hands  and  a  full  heart,  let 
American  Christians  become  the  active  co-operators  in  so  great 
and  glorious  a  work. 

Considered  in  a  religious  point  of  view,  we  believe  this  insur- 
6 

££;•  ,  ./.;£v. 

'**''  ••-.*!''••    **  . 

•'  *"  ,/       '  ff- 


82  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

rection  will  be  seen  to  have  involved  momentous  results.  The 
great  obstacles  in  the  way  of  missions  are  now  removed.  The 
chain  of  caste  will  henceforth  be  comparatively  weak.  The  En- 
glish Government  have  seen  the  consequences  of  attempting  to 
keep  up  their  rule  by  the  encouragement  of  superstition.  They 
will  no  longer  deem  it  necessary  to  court  the  native  priesthood, 
by  buying  splendid  robes  for  Juggernaut,  or  supporting  the 
Brahmuns  that  officiate  at  his  shrine.  Such  men  as  Col.  Wheeler 
will  not  again  be  compelled  to  relinquish  the  service,  as  the  pen- 
alty of  conversing  with  the  Sepoys  on  the  subject  of  Christ  and 
salvation.  The  native  aristocracy  will  no  longer  have  the  power 
to  persecute,  disgrace,  and  impoverish  the  native  disciples. 
Missionaries  have  been  called,  during  the  last  few  years,  to  pass 
through  sore  trials,  some  of  them  from  quarters  they  least  ex- 
pected. May  not  the  hand  of  Providence  have  been  in  this 
thing,  fitting  them  for  a  coming  hour  of  prosperity  ? 

The  cry  in  England  for  revenge  upon  the  Sepoys  for  their  per- 
fidious rebellion  and  fiendish  cruelties  has  died  away,  and  been 
succeeded  by  a  general  utterance  of  infinitely  nobler  character. 
Mercy  and  not  sacrifice,  beneficence  and  not  vengeance,  is  now 
the  prevailing  voice;  and  there  is  no  longer  a  doubt  that  the 
policy  of  the  government  will  be  shaped  in  accordance  with  it. 

"  In  Great  Britain,"  says  a  writer,  "  the  whole  Christian  com- 
munity is  moved  in  behalf  of  India.  To  avenge  the  death  of 
Englishmen  by  giving  the  Gospel  to  their  murderers !  This  is 
noble,  Christ-like.  It  is  worthy  of  England  —  a  noble  Christian 
land.  It  is  worthy  of  old  Scotland,  the  land  of  Bibles  and  the 
Sabbath." 

j  A  large  meeting  was  recently  held  in  Edinburgh,  the  object  of 
which  was  to  carry  forward,  with  a  vastly  augmented  energy, 
the  evangelization  of  India.  In  this  effort  the  "  Evangelical  Al- 
liance "  are  making  their  influence  felt,  especially  in  their  en- 
deavors to  harmonize  the  labors  of  the  various  societies,  and 
thus  bring  to  bear  on  India  the  united  power  of  the  British 
church  —  the  concentrated  power  of  British  philanthropy. 

England  has  felt  the  rebuke.     The  British  church  has  been 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  83 

. 

smitten,  and  the  wail  of  woe  has  reached  the  American  Zion. 
Missions,  houses,  and  churches  have  been  burnt,  schools  dis- 
persed, printing  establishments  destroyed,  missionaries  mur- 
dered, and  the  labors  of  years  seemingly  lost.  And  what  re-  „ 
sponse  does  the  English  church  give  to  this  singular  array  of 
disasters?  And  what  answer  does  our  trans- Atlantic  church 

return  ?    !N"obly  do  they  respond, 

i  *  *••  »'.**"  • ' 

"  Those  ruins  must  be  built  again, 
And  all  that  dust  must  rise." 

"Houses,  and  schools,  and  churches  must,"  say  they,  "be  rebuilt, 
and  every  appliance  re-supplied  to  promote  with  new  energy  and 
efficiency  the  work  of  the  Lord.  And  those  men  —  who  will  go 
for  the  men  ?  "Who  will  take  the  places  made  vacant  by  death  ? 
Who  will  fill  the  martyrs'  place  ? 

"  The  church  must  meet  these  new  and  large  demands.  Here 
are  the  places  of  more  than  twenty  faithful  laborers  made 
vacant  by  the  blast  of  a  single  storm,  and  our  sons  and  daugh- 
ters must  be  dedicated  and  trained  to  take  the  field.  Perhaps 
\ve  must  go  ourselves.  Let  us  lay  this  awful  lesson  to  heart. 
It  may  be  that  this  calamity  is  the  precursor  of  a  mighty  bless- 
ing. When  we  are  humbled,  God  will  appear  for  our  help,  and 
he  will  certainly  have  pity  on  his  afflicted  cause." 

Every  mail  from  England  inspires  the  hope  that  the  heart  of 
the  rebellion  is  crushed,  and  ere  long  tranquility  shall  be  re- 
stored, and  a  more  promising  opportunity  than  ever  be  afforded 
for  the  evangelization  of  the  whole  country.  Such  changes  in 
the  administration  of  government  shall  be  made  as  shall  greatly 
facilitate  missionary  labors.  All  Christian  communities  and  so- 
cieties are  preparing  to  avail  themselves  of  the  openings  that 
are  sure  to  be  created  for  diffusing  over  all  Hindoostan,  and 
thence  over  all  Asia,  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel. 

Discern  ye  not  in  these  things  the  dawn  of  a  better  clay  for 
India?  The  realization  of  England's  Christian  philanthropy  is 
likely  more  than  to  repair  the  ruins  of  a  selfish  and  time-serving 
government. 


.    .  "V  '  ••'• 

*        .    .  •  ".*•*•        Jt 

84  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

We  believe  that  a  glorious  future  awaits  that  long-forsaken 
and  ill-fated  land.  Hushed  shall  be  the  din  of  war ;  the  carnage 
of  the  battle-field  shall  be  forgotten.  Immanuel  shall  there  un- 
furl his  peaceful  banners;  and  those  nations,  no  more  inured  to 
the  devastations  of  war,  shall  become  the  willing  subjects  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace.  Faith  contemplates  these  luxurious  climes  as 
all  vocal  with  the  high  praises  of  our  King.  Their  idol  gods 
cast  to  the  moles  and  the  bats,  and  the  waning  crescent  sunk  into 
the  abyss  whence  it  came,  all  those  populous  nations  shall 
bow  about  the  cross  and  serve  the  one  only  God. 

It  is  the  voice  of  faith  that  has  said  there  is  to  be  yet  another  in- 
vasion, and  yet  another  conquest  of  British  India ;  and  the  fame  of 
the  Olives,  and  "Wellesleys,  and  Lakes,  of  the  Havelocks,  the  Wil- 
sons, and  the  N"eills,  shall  yet  be  surpassed.  This  conquest  is  to 
be  achieved  by  railways,  telegraphs,  power-looms,  and  steam- 
plows  —  by  just  and  equal  laws,  by  schools,  by  the  active  pro- 
motion of  every  moral  word  and  work,  by  the  practical  exempli- 
fication, from  the  Himalayas  to  the  Indian  Ocean,  from  the  Bur- 
mese frontier  to  the  banks  of  the  Indus,  of  those  Christian  prin- 
ciples and  duties  which  have  the  promise  of  the  world  that  now 
is,  as  well  as  of  that  to  come.  To  this  course  the  British  people 
are  impelled  by  the  strongest  motives  of  self-interest,  as  well  as 
the  purest  impulses  of  philanthropy.  And  we  rejoice  to  see  that 
they  have  at  last  become  so  deeply  sensible  of  the  fact.  The 
rebellion,  terrible  as  it  has  been,  will  prove  a  signal  blessing,  and 
no  misfortune,  if  the  sense  of  responsibility  and  spirit  of  duty 
which  it  has  awakened  shall  bear  their  appropriate  fruits  hi  prac- 
tical action.  British  statesmen  have  permitted  themselves  to  be 
too  much  occupied  in  wars  and  diplomatic  arrangements.  They 
have  allowed  the  petty  wirework  of  the  little  old  European  con- 
tinent to  occupy  a  disproportionate  share  of  their  attention. 
Europe  is  no  longer  to  be  the  scene  of  the  great  controlling 
events  of  the  race.  The  theatre  of  action  has  been  far  removed. 
England  has  interests  to  assert  in  the  Old  World,  and  loth  should 
we  be  to  think  they  were  neglected ;  but  England's  future  great- 
ness and  happiness  will  depend  upon  the  rank  she  is  able  to  hold 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 


in  the  new  political  world  outside  of  Europe.  When  we  look 
back  to  the  struggles  of  Venice,  Genoa,  Pisa,  and  other  petty 
republics  of  the  middle  ages,  how  pigmy  do  they  seem  when 
compared  with  those  of  the  great  continental  powers  of  more 
modern  times !  And  yet  the  time  is  speedily  coming,  when  the 
struggles,  and  all  the  activities  and  concerns  of  these  modern 
kingdoms,  which  are  but  patches  upon  the  earth's  surface,  shall 
be  as  diminutive,  in  comparison  with  the  great  interests  and 
doings  of  those  Caucasian  empires  that  shall  sway  the  destinies 
of  America,  Australia,  and  Hindoostan. 

Such  utterances,  as  I  have  before  quoted,  betoken  the  com- 
mencement of  a  better  feeling  in  England,  and  hold  out  the 
promise  of  the  returning  favor  of  heaven.  England  has  changed 
her  policy  towards  India,  very  essentially,  since  the  day  when 
Buchanan  "  waged  war  with  the  government,"  before  he  could 
gain  the  slightest  concession,  that  the  Gospel  might,  in  any  form, 
be  preached  to  the  native  population  of  India ;  and  since,  at  a 
later  day,  (1812-13,)  Hall,  Nott,  and  ISTewell  fearlessly  renewed 
the  battle  in  a  correspondence  with  the  Governor  of  Bombay ; 
in  which  they  boldly  and  righteously  took  the  ground  that  no 
government  could  have  the  RIGHT  to  shut  out  the  Gospel  from 
any  people  whatever.  It  is  God's  gift  to  man  as  a  sinner,  and  no 
earthly  power  may  for  a  moment  interpose  to  deprive  him  of  the 
heavenly  boon. 

But  England  must  change  her  policy  once  more ;  and  when 
she  shall  adopt,  and,  in  all  fidelity,  act  upon  the  policy  so  fear- 
lessly and  righteously  forced  upon  her  attention  by  the  first 
American  missionaries  in  Bombay,  she  may  expect  to  stand  firm 
in  her  own  political  and  moral  integrity,  respected  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  noble  Anglo-Saxon  stock,  and  of  a  great  Chris- 
tian nation ;  and  honored  as  the  instrument  of  raising  up  a  great 
nation  of  idolaters  from  a  low  state  of  moral  debasement,  to 
take  their  position  among  the  enlightened  and  Christianized 
nations  of  the  earth. 


86  INDIA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Characteristics  and  Sketches  of  Hindoostan  and  the  Hindoos  in  general — Domes- 
tic, Social,  Ciril,  Local,  Physical  and  Religious. 

IT  is  proposed  in  the  following  chapter  to  bring  together  vari- 
ous notices  of  Hindoo  character  and  condition,  which  shall  intro- 
duce the  reader  into  a  more  familiar  acquaintance  with  that  sin- 
gular people.  These  notices  will  be  numbered  according  as  they 
come  before  me  in  sketches  taken  on  the  spot. 

1.  Their  domestic  character,  condition  and  relations.  The 
masses  of  the  people  are  very  poor — a  bare  subsistence  is  all 
they  expect;  and  this  subsistence  is  such  as  the  poorest  class  in 
America  would  regard  as  little  above  the  point  of  absolute  star- 
vation. One  rupee — about  forty-five  cents — per  month,  is  as 
much  as  the  poorer  or  working  classes  can  realize  from  their 
labor  to  supply  food  and  clothing  to  an  individual.  Should  a 
man  escape  with  a  small  surplus  from  the  hands  of  the  tax-gath- 
erer, he  is  sure  to  fall  into  the  jaws  of  the  more  voracious  priest. 
Indeed,  it  is  not  easy  to  determine  whether  their  civil  or  their 
spiritual  despots  are  most  to  be  dreaded.  A  two-fold  bondage 
crushes  them  to  the  ground.  The  poverty,  degradation,  and  igno- 
rance of  all  the  lower  orders  of  the  people,  are  the  consequences 
of  their  systems  of  government  and  religion.  Give  them  the 
power  of  wealth  and  education,  and  let  them  feel  the  dignity  of 
manhood,  and  they  could  no  longer  be  manacled  by  priests  and 
tyrants. 

Come  with  me  into  their  dark,  dirty,  empty,  comfortless  houses : 
no  neat,  tidy  house-wife ;  no  intelligent,  pretty  children ;  no 
tables,  chairs  or  couches ;  no  nice  carpet,  or  clean  floor ;  no  beds, 
with  linen  white  and  clean ;  no  crockery,  glass  or  cutlery — nothing 
to  delight  the  eye,  or  cheer  the  heart,  in  these  dreary  abodes.  We 
no  sooner  approach  the  domestic  condition  and  relations  of  this 
people,  than  we  find  ourselves  penetrating  a  dark  corner  of  Pa- 
ganism; for  the  light  of  woman's  countenance  does  not  shine 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  87 

there.  This  single  fact,  so  often  told,  and  so  well  known,  of  the 
universal  degradation  of  the  whole  female 'sex,  speaks  a  volume 
to  the  reflecting  mind,  concerning  the  domestic  relations  of  the 
Hindoos.  Divest  woman  of  her  native  dignity  and  persuasive 
power,  strip  her  of  her  natural  prerogatives  in  the  domestic  cir- 
cle, and  what  of  domestic  happiness  and  comfort  have  you  left  ? 
Convert  the  mother  into  a  menial,  the  wife  into  a  servant,  and 
what  idea  of  a  family  remains  ?  Make  marriage  a  matter  of  con- 
tract and  sordid  interest,  in  which  the  fathers  of  the  infant  par- 
ties only  consult  their  own  profit  or  convenience,  or,  perhaps, 
only  their  whims,  and  what  prospect  is  there  of  conjugal  happi- 
ness and  fidelity  ? — what  pledge  of  domestic  peace  and  happi- 
ness? Forbid  second  marriages;  make  widowhood  disgraceful 
and  miserable ;  close  your  doors  against  all  that  large  class  of 
girls  and  women,  who  have  been  so  unfortunate  as  to  lose  their 
husbands ;  deprive  them  of  all  the  means  of  an  honorable  sub- 
sistence and  a  happy  social  existence ;  doom  them,  by  these  cold 
civilities,  to  a  life  of  disgrace  and  misery;  or  compel  them  to 
mount  the  funeral  pile  to  escape  the  infamy  of  a  sadder  alterna- 
tive, then  ask,  if  woman  may  be  happy  in  India  ?  Make  woman 
feel  that  she  is  a  being  of  another  and  an  inferior  order ;  that 
she  is  made  to  be  trampled  on ;  that  she  is  incapable  of  mental 
improvement ;  that  she  cannot  rise  above  her  present  low  level ; 
and,  finally,  that  she  is  below  any  order  of  beings  that  may  hope 
(while  retaining  her  womanhood)  to  reach  the  unfading  delights 
of  Paradise  —  familiarize  her  to  such  debasing  lessons  of  her 
humiliation,  and  where  would  be  the  golden  dreams  of  connu- 
bial bliss? — where  the  sweet  converse  of  "kindred  souls?" — 

! 

where  all  the  tender  associations,  the  kindly  emotions,  which 
cluster  around  the  dear  names  of  sister !  mother !  wife  ?  Alas ! 
what  is  heathenism,  when  seen  in  real  life ! 

Instances  like  the  following,  which  came  under  my  own  obser- 
vation, and  which  were  not  uncommon,  will  illustrate  what  I 
have  said :  "  While  addressing  a  native  assembly  at  one  of  our 
preaching  places,  we  were  disturbed  by  an  uproar  in  the  street 
near  us.  In  an  instant  my  hearers  had  all  decamped.  Some 


88  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

passed  out  at  the  door,  but  more  made  an  unceremonious  escape 
through  the  windows.  After  a  few  moments  they  returned,  and 
I  inquired  the  cause  of  the  riot.  'Oh,  nothing,'  replied  one, 
*  only  some  fellow  was  whipping  his  wife  ! '  On  looking,  I  saw  a 
multitude  of  people  passing,  at  the  head  of  which  was  the  man 
referred  to,  driving  his  poor  wife  through  the  town  with  his  shoo, 
and,  at  almost  every  step,  beating  her  with  it.  The  scene  did 
not  seem  to  impress  the  mind  of  the  crowd  that  there  was  any 
thing  singular  in  it.  I  did  not  discover  that  it  excited  any  sym- 
pathy in  behalf  of  the  woman." 

2.  The  social  condition  of  the  Oriental  World  has  excited  no 
little  interest  among  the  nations  of  the  West;  and  the  Hindoos 
have  here  contributed  their  full  share  to  such  interest.  But  the 
feature  of  Hindoo  society  which  has  attracted  most  attention, 
and  which  distinguishes  the  social  condition  of  that  people  from 
that  of  any  other,  is  the  institution  of  caste.  This  determines 
all  social  positions  and  intercourse,  and,  indeed,  regulates  every 
calling,  employment  and  profession — it  erects  a  formidable  bar- 
rier to  all  improvement  beyond  the  prescribed  limits  of  caste —  it 
circumscribes  the  efforts  of  the  aspiring  within  the  narrow  limits 
of  their  own  hereditary  occupation  —  it  cripples  genius,  and 
holds  out  no  premium  to  merit  or  industry.  No  degree  of  ener- 
gy, excellence  or  virtue — no  effort  which  a  man  of  inferior  caste 
can  make  —  can  raise  him  to  the  next  superior  caste ;  all  emula- 
tion is  nipped  in  the  bud.  The  laws  of  caste,  as  unchangeable  as 
the  laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  have  determined  every 
man's  position  before  he  was  born.  This  cold,  exclusive  system, 
is  carried  into  all  the  varied  affairs  of  life.  It  prohibits  all  social 
intercourse  among  the  different  castes — it  excludes  every  man 
of  an  inferior  caste  from  the  house,  the  company,  the  employ- 
ment, and  the  table  of  the  man  of  superior  caste — it  forever 
prevents  the  intermarriage  of  different  castes ;  and  it  is,  indeed, 
founded  on  the  principle  that  the  different  castes  are  not  indeed 
beings  of  the  same  species  of  the  race. 

Thus  one  portion  of  the  race  is  born  to  lord  it  over  the  other : 
one  is  born  the  head,  another  the  tail.  The  two  can  neither  eat 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  89 

together,  nor  drink  from  the  same  cup.  They  can  have  no  social 
intercourse ;  and  if  so  much  as  the  shadow  of  a  low  caste  man 
falls  on  a  priest,  the  latter  is  polluted,  and  must  undergo  ablution 
and  purification. 

The  influence  which  such  notions  must  have  on  the  social  and 
moral  condition  of  a  people,  can  be  easily  conceived  by  any  one 
who  has  a  moderate  share  of  discernment  into  human  affairs. 
One  of  the  most  obvious  effects  of  the  system  is,  to  pamper  the 
pride  of  the  higher  orders  and  to  demean  the  lower.  Hence  we 
find  the  Brahmuns  haughty,  insolent,  overbearing,  dogmatical 
and  despotic ;  while  the  common  people  are  base,  cringing,  mean, 
spiritless  and  mercenary.  They  have  no  character  to  support, 
and  are  well  aware  that  no  efforts  of  theirs  can  ever  acquire  them 
a  character ;  consequently,  they  have  none  to  lose.  The  former 
are  objects  of  worship.  The  people  actually  bow  down  and  wor- 
ship them  in  the  most  servile  manner ;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  caste  of  people  who  form  the  extreme  of  the  latter,  are  re- 
garded as  so  very  low  that  they  are  not  allowed  to  live  in  the 
same  village,  or  to  step  into  a  public  temple.  Indeed,  the  Abbe 
Dubois  speaks  of  a  caste  of  people  in  southern  India,  called  the 
Pannah  caste,  who  are  so  completely  excluded  from  the  commu- 
nity of  man  by  the  reputed  meanness  of  their  birth,  that  they 
are  not  allowed  to  build  houses,  or  to  walk  on  the  public  road. 
They  live  in  caves  or  dens  in  the  earth,  or  under  some  temporary 
shelter;  and,  if  seen  in  the  public  path,  they  are  obliged  to  make 
a  circuit  of  a  hundred  yards  around  a  traveler  whom  they  may 
have  occasion  to  pass.  A  Brahmun  is  polluted  if  he  step  on  the 
same  mat  with  a  Pannah,  or  the  shadow  of  the  latter  fall  on  him. 

3.  There  is  much  that  has  attracted  attention  in  the  civil  con- 
dition of  the  people  of  India.  It  is  a  feature  not  a  little  extra- 
ordinary, that  nearly  all  the  political  power,  which,  directly  or 
indirectly,  controls  that  great  and  populous  country,  should  be 
exercised  by  a  nation  which  inhabits  a  little  island  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  globe ;  that  this  great  mass  of  people  should  be 
kept  in  subjection  so  long  as  they  were  by  a  foreign  people  at 
such  a  distance,  and  this,  too,  when  little  but  the  controlling 


90  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

power  was  foreign.  The  people  were  absolutely  hired  to  con- 
quer, and  then  to  keep  in  subjection,  themselves !  All  commis- 
sioned officers  of  the  army,  and  all  heads  of  departments  in  the 
civil  service,  are  Europeans ;  while  the  great  mass  of  the  com- 
mon soldiery,  and  all  subordinates  in  the  civil  services,  are 
natives.  The  pay  and  honor  belongs  to  the  foreigners ;  the  hard 
service  to  the  natives.  The  government  is  a  military  despotism. 
The  very  soil  of  the  land  is  the  exclusive  property  of  the  govern- 
ment. Each  of  the  four  'presidencies  into  which  the  British 
possessions  are  divided,  has  its  subordinate  governor  and  bishop, 
its  own  army,  judiciary  and  executive;  while  the  whole  is  under 
a  Governor-General,  whose  seat  of  government,  as  well  as  the 
residence  of  the  Lord  Bishop,  is  at  Calcutta. 

The  goverment  of  India  is  exceedingly  expensive — the  reve- 
nue, in  time  of  peace,  barely  meeting  the  expenditure.  Taxation 
is,  of  course,  oppressive.  The  army  is  immense :  in  time  of 
peace — or  rather,  I  should  say,  in  ordinary  times  —  scarcely  less 
than  300,000  native  Sepoy  soldiers,  and,  perhaps,  a  tenth  part  of 
that  number  of  European  soldiers.  The  heads  of  departments 
— that  is,  English  officers  and  functionaries  —  are  paid  extrava- 
gantly. The  salary  of  the  Governor-General  is  £25,000  ($125,- 
000)  per  annum ;  a  member  of  council  receives  £8,000  ($40,000) ; 
judges,  £6,000 ;  commanders-in-chief,  about  the  same.  The  almost 
fabulous  wealth  of  ancient  India  has  long  since  departed ;  and 
the  real  wealth  of  modern  India  has  long  since  been  made  the 
spoil  of  her  conquerors.  Immense  sums  have  gone  to  England. 
Very  much  of  the  present  revenue  is  realized  from  a  people  so 
absolutely  poor  that  they  look  not  beyond  the  paying  of  their 
taxes  and  the  bare  supply  of  their  absolute  wants  from  day  to 
day.  Such  is  the  condition  of  more  than  100,000,000  of  the 
natives  of  India!  Besides  these,  there  are  50,000,000  governed 
by  their  own  native  princes ;  yet  none  of  these  are  absolutely 
independent.  Some  are  tributary  to  the  English  Government ; 
others  are  obliged  to  receive  an  English  Resident  at  their  court, 
who  is  more  king  than  counselor,  and  to  keep  up  an  army  offi- 
cered by  Englishmen;  and  all  are,  by  treaty  or  by  terror  of  British 


INDIA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE.  91 

power,  in  some  sort  of  dependence  on  the  will  of  their  foreign 
invaders.  Such  has  been  the  state  of  things  in  India.  "What 
will  be,  remains  to  be  seen. 

The  character  of  the  present  government,  though  it  be  the 
government  of  a  great  empire,  does  not  differ  very  essentially 
from  the  character  of  the  first  little  company  of  merchants  which 
settled  on  the  banks  of  the  Hoogly,  near  two  hundred  years  ago. 
£To  plans  of  permanent  residence,  or  of  benefiting  the  people  of 
the  country,  can  be  supposed  to  have  actuated  the  individuals 
composing  the  Company  at  that  period.  That  little  body,  now 
expanded  into  colossal  dimensions,  is  still  animated  by  the  same 
spirit.  Every  Company's  servant  is  still  a  true  representation  of 
his  honorable  patrons.  In  no  sense  does  he  regard  India  as  his 
home.  He  comes  for  a  limited  period ;  he  longs  to  have  it  expire. 
He  has  almost  as  little  sympathy  with  the  natives  as  if  he  had 
remained  in  England;  he  transmits  his  fortune  there;  sends  his 
children  there ;  his  interests,  his  relations,  his  heart,  is  in  England ; 
and  I  should  only  be  repeating  what  many  confess,  should  I  say, 
he  leaves  his  religion  there. 

I  need  not  add  that  such  a  state  of  things,  and  such  a  tenure 
of  the  soil,  can  never  be  favorable  to  the  improvement  of  the 
country,  and  the  social  and  civil  progress  of  the  people.  Such  a 
government  may,  as  it  actually  does,  tolerate  the  philanthropic 
and  benevolent  efforts  which  others  would  make  to  instruct  and 
evangelize  the  people,  but  sanctions  nothing  of  the  kind.  In- 
deed, the  government  are  bound  by  treaty  not  merely  to  abstain 
from  all  interference  with  the  religions  of  the  country,  but  actu- 
ally to  contribute  to  the  support  of  temples  and  holy  places,  to 
pay  Brahmuns  to  pray  for  rain,  and  many  such  like  fooleries  as 
may  be  supposed  to  conciliate  native  prejudices,  or  not  to  offend 
their  superstitions. 

Under  her  present  governmental  auspices,  India  is,  as  she  has 
been  for  more  than  eight  centuries,  like  a  rented  estate,  for  which 
the  tenant  has  no  further  regard  but  to  secure  his  present  profits. 
The  policy  of  her  rulers  has  been  to  fleece  the  land,  and  to  secure 
the  greatest  possible  amount,  and  at  the  least  possible  return. 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 


And  the  subordinates,  again,  as  they  rent  the  lands,  feel,  if  possi- 
ble, less  interest  to  bestow  labor  on  them  in  reference  to  any 
future  benefit.  Internal  improvement,  therefore,  is  scarcely  a 
part  of  the  English  policy  there.  Since  their  castigation  by 
Burke,  they  have  constructed  a  few  roads,  railways  and  telegraphs  ; 
and  a  few  bridges,  hospitals  and  churches  would  remain,  were 
they  driven  from  India,  as  foot-prints  of  their  rule.  Yet  when 
we  consider  the  extent  of  their  territory,  the  immense  wealth 
which  they  have  carried  from  the  country,  and  the  hundred 
million  of  souls,  whose  temporal  and  eternal  welfare  the  Great 
Disposer  of  nations  has  put  into  their  hands,  we  are  constrain- 
ed to  say  they  have  done,  comparatively,  nothing  for  that 
people. 

4.  In  a  review  of  a  pleasant,  and,  as  the  writer  hopes,  not 
altogether  a  profitless  residence  in  India,  reminiscences,  personal, 
local  and  physical,  are  readily  reproduced. 

Fatalists,  as  the  Hindoos  all  are,  they  believe  a  man  is  a  mere 
automaton,  a  machine,  without  self-agency  or  accountability. 
His  motives,  thoughts,  affections,  impulses,  actions,  are  not  his 
own.  The  learned  priest  will  seriously  argue  that  there  is  really 
no  such  thing  as  merit  or  demerit,  right  and  wrong.  Caste  is  not 
an  arbitrary  or  conventional  arrangement,  but  an  institution 
founded  in  the  nature  of  beings.  It  naturally,  and  eternally, 
divides  men  into  different  orders  —  erects  barriers,  which  no  cir- 
cumstances, education,  or  progress  can  break  down.  The  origin 
of  the  different  orders  is  radically  different,  and  no  efforts  of 
man  can  change  them.  One  proceeded  from  the  head  of  Brah- 
mu  (the  Creator),  and  of  course  inherit  the  wisdom,  and  excel- 
lence, and  sanctity  of  its  divine  Original  !  These  are  the  priests. 
Another  originated  from  the  arms  and  breasts  of  the  imaginary 
Brahmu;  and  therefore  possess,  in  an  eminent  degree,  the 
strength  of  the  Supreme.  These  are  designated  as  the  protectors 
of  the  race,  or  the  kings  and  soldiers.  The  third  class  originated 
in  the  loins  of  Great  Brahmu  —  indicating  that  they  are  to  sup- 
ply the  world  with  the  means  of  subsistence.  These  are  mer- 
chants, shop-keepers,  and  the  like.  And  the  last,  and  the  least  of 


INDIA   AND   ITS    PEOPLE.  93 

all,  are  the  poor  Sliroodras,  who  proceeded  from  the  feet  of  the 
Creator.  These  are  all  that  large  class  of  laborers,  servants,  and 
working-men  of  all  descriptions. 

The  Sliroodras,  comprehending  the  great  mass  of  the  common 
people,  are  divided  and  subdivided  into  as  many  castes  as  there 
are  different  kinds  of  labor.  Hence  the  institution  of  caste  is, 
practically,  but  little  else  (except  in  reference  to  the  Brahmuns) 
than  a  hereditary  division  of  labor,  enforced  by  a  pretended  di- 
vine sanction.  Such  notions  cling  to  every  man  there  as  a  part 
of  his  being,  and  may,  therefore,  be  regarded  as  personal. 

Other  natural  traits  of  Hindoo  character  are,  indolence,  false- 
hood, subtlety  and  treachery.  Labor  is  everywhere  in  the  East 
regarded  as  a  sore  evil  and  a  disgrace.  No  one  will  perform 
manual  labor,  unless  compelled  to  it  by  actual  necessity.  If  a 
man  has  an  income  of  only  five  rupees  per  month,  he  would  give 
two  of  these  for  a  servant,  and  half  starve  himself  and  family  on 
the  remainder,  rather  than  do  his  own  work;  and  this  servant 
will  perhaps  pay  one-half  of  his  small  stipend  to  some  one  poorer 
than  himself  to  do  his  work  for  him.  To  eat,  drink,  smoke, 
lounge,  and  sleep  two-thirds  of  the  time,  and  then  to  spend  the 
remainder  of  the  day  in  idleness,  or  in  listening  to  some  gross 
tale  or  bawdy  song,  is,  in  the  estimation  of  the  sensual  idolater, 
the  summum  bonum  of  all  human  happiness.  Nothing  sooner 
attracts  the  attention  of  the  newly  arrived  in  India,  or  impresses 
him  more  unfavorably  of  the  native  character,  than  the  throngs 
of  idle  people  which  he  everywhere  encounters,  and  at  all  times 
of  the  day.  The  number  employed,  at  any  one  time,  is  compara- 
tively so  small  that  he  would  suppose  the  people  were  having  a 
holiday. 

This  national  indolence  has  been  charged  to  the  climate.  To 
gome  extent  it  is  doubtless  so ;  yet  it  is  rather  the  legitimate 
result  of  heathenism.  A  cold,  lifeless  system  of  Paganism  offers 
no  premium  to  industry.  No  value  is  set  on  time.  The  comforts 
and  elegancies  of  life  are,  if  not  unknown,  unappreciated.  Do- 
mestic happiness  is  a  term  without  a  meaning.  Public  spirit  and 
patriotism  are  but  names.  Political  despotism  and  a  most  accom- 


94  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

plished  system  of  priestcraft  annihilate  everything  belonging  to 
the  common  man  but  his  bare  existence.  And  what  incitements 
has  he  to  industry  ?  And,  besides,  the  people  have  no  right  in 
the  soil,  and,  consequently,  feel  no  interest  to  make  improve- 
ments, and  to  better  their  condition ;  for  all  that  a  despotic 
government  leaves,  a  voracious  priesthood  is  sure  to  take.  Few 
as  the  wants  of  the  mass  of  the  people  are,  no  necessity  is  felt  on 
the  present  system  to  increase  them.  Every  man's  rank  and 
character  being  established  by  immutable  law,  sovereign  custom, 
and  religious  sanction,  no  industry  or  virtue  of  his  can  change 
them.  The  social,  the  more  tender,  refined  and  benevolent  feel- 
ings of  our  natures  not  being  there  developed,  the  consequent  in- 
centives to  industry  and  virtue  are  not  brought  into  action. 

Would  we  benefit  these  heathen  people,  we  must  first  of  all 
supply  incentives  to  industry — we  must  apply  a  remedy  suited  to 
the  disease.  This  remedy  is  found  only  in  Christianity.  This 
restores  to  man  the  condition  of  a  man.  It  opens  before  him  ten 
thousand  motives  to  industry,  of  which  Paganism  knows  nothing. 
It  allures  him  to  labor,  and  assures  him  of  the  fruits  of  his  labor. 
No  more  shall  the  hand  of  the  sower  recoil,  because  "one  may 
sow  and  another  reap."  While  a  bare  subsistence — the  mere 
sustenance  of  the  animal — is  the  highest  and  almost  the  only 
object  aimed  at  or  desired;  and  while  this  is  furnished,  as  in 
warm  countries,  by  the  labors  of  only  a  small  portion  of  the  day, 
the  people  are  not  likely  to  be  reclaimed  from  their  vitiating 
habits  of  idleness. 

Idleness  is  the  mother  of  vice  everywhere ;  but  I  shall  not 
attempt  to  describe  the  progeny  in  so  fertile  a  soil  as  India. 

oSTor  are  dishonesty,  falsehood,  dissimulation  and  subtlety  less 
prominent  traits  of  native  character.  It  may  be  said  of  them, 
as  of  the  Cretans,  they  are  always  liars!  They  justify  falsehood, 
and  deem  it  comely  if  the  end  be  good.  Expediency  seems  their 
only  standard  of  right  and  wrong.  This  is  the  first  lesson  of 
morality  which  the  infant  mind  receives ;  and,  as  he  grows  to 
maturity,  a  vitiated  moral  sense  does  not  lead  him  to  correct  the 
errors  of  his  early  teachings.  Deception  becomes  a  habit;  and 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  95 

no  people  acquire  it  more  readily,  or  become  greater  adepts.  Dis- 
simulation and  subtlety  seem  the  spontaneous  growth  of  the  In- 
dian mind ;  and  in  these  unlovely  arts  the  Brahmuns  surpass  all 
others.  The  duplicity  of  a  Hindoo  priest  puts  to  the  blush  the 
most  refined  system  of  civilized  hypocrisy.  In  social  intercourse, 
in  commercial  dealings,  in  argument,  honesty  is  but  a  name. 

Physically,  the  Hindoos  do  not  differ  essentially  from  European 
races,  except  in  the  color  of  their  skin.  They  have  the  Euro- 
pean features  —  are  doubtless  of  the  Caucasian  variety — have 
straight  hair,  slender,  well-formed  bodies,  somewhat  below  the 
common  stature.  This  may  be  attributed  partly  to  climate,  and 
perhaps  more  to  their  light  vegetable  diet.  Persons  of  high 
caste  are  not  only  faker  in  complexion,  but  smaller  in  stature,  and 
more  delicate  in  form,  than  the  lower  and  laboring  classes.  The 
latter,  to  some  extent,  use  animal  food.  The  women  of  the  lower 
orders  are  generally  stout  and  strong,  and  capable  of  nearly  as 
much  hard  labor  as  the  men. 

5.  No  theme,  perhaps,  occupies  the  attention  of  writers  on  In- 
dia more  than  the  religions  of  the  country.  Brahmunism  is  the 
prevailing  religion  of  the  Hindoos ;  and  it  is  that  with  which  we 
are  at  present  concerned.  Bhoodism  is  the  prevailing  religion 
in  the  countries  beyond  the  Ganges  and  in  China ;  and  Moham- 
medanism, a  religion  of  less  ancient  date,  is  practiced  by  a  large 
class  of  people  in  all  those  countries. 

Brahmunism  is  not  so  gross  and  absolutely  false,  as  it  is  sophis- 
tical, frigid  and  transcendental.  Its  mythology  indicates  more 
of  perverted  intellect  than  of  absolute  ignorance.  It  is  at  very 
antipodes  of  Christianity.  The  one  breathes  good  will  to  man. 
It  is  in  its  very  nature  to  remove  evil,  and  to  impart  unadultera- 
ted good.  It  is  a  sun  that  dispels  darkness.  It  is  a  river  which 
fertilizes  the  barren  field ;  a  fountain,  whose  streams  flow  forth 
to  irrigate  the  parched  desert ;  a  tree,  whose  leaves  are  for  the 
healing  of  the  nations,  whose  fruits  shall  gladden  the  hearts  of 
many,  and  under  whose  shadow  the  weary  may  rest.  It  is  an 
ocean,  on  whose  bosom  are  wafted  the  treasures  of  heaven.  The 
other  is  a  system  of  cold,  unmixed  selfishness.  Practically,  it  is 


96  IXDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

a  most  unblushing  system  of  priestcraft.  Its  rites,  practices,  pre- 
cepts, all  tend  to  a  single  point,  the  aggrandizement  of  the 
priesthood.  It  imparts  neither  light,  nor  life,  nor  love.  It  brings 
no  relief  to  the  needy,  no  joy  to  the  sorrowful,  no  balm  to  the 
wounded  spirit,  no  hope  to  the  desponding.  It  rivets  the  chains 
of  the  captive,  closes  the  prison  doors  against  all  aspirations  for 
light  and  liberty,  and  seals  up  the  lips  of  instruction.  It  vitiates 
the  fountain  of  moral  principle,  and  dries  up  the  streams  of 
human  happiness,  and  leaves  man  a  cold-hearted,%selfish,  hopeless 
being.  It  nurtures  sin  by  religious  sanctions,  and  entails  it  on  its 
miserable  votaries ;  but  makes  no  effectual  provisions  for  its  re- 
moval. It  offers  no  remedy  for  the  miseries  of  this  life,  nor 
affords  a  gleam  of  light  to  guide  the  benighted  soul  to  the  realms 
of  eternal  day. 

Pilgrimages,  holy  days  and  holy  places,  constitute  a  larger 
portion  of  the  religion  of  this  people,  and  are  sources  of  more 
corruption  and  misery,  than  is  generally  known.  Most  pilgrim- 
ages are  undertaken  doubtless  at  the  instigation  of  priests,  and 
for  the  benefit  of  a  more  lazy  set  of  the  same  order,  who  subsist 
at  the  holy  place  on  their  unrighteous  impositions  on  pilgrims. 
A  long  pilgrimage  is  the  occasion  of  an  immense  deal  of  suffer- 
ing and  wretchedness,  and  many  leave  their  homes  never  to  re- 
turn. To  a  family  that  could  scarcely  live  at  home  on  their 
scanty  resources,  a  three  months'  journey  could  be  no  trifle, 
even  were  there  no  Brahminical  impositions  to  filch  from  them 
their  last  pice,  or  no  disease  or  desolating  pestilence  to  be  en- 
countered amidst  the  filthy,  half-fed  and  half-clothed  crowds 
which  throng  the  holy  place.  These  are  calamities  which  almost 
always  accompany  a  pilgrimage.  Tens  of  thousands,  some- 
times hundreds  of  thousands,  without  shelter,  without  a  com- 
petent supply  of  even  the  coarsest  food,  badly  clad  and  intolera- 
bly filthy,  are  for  weeks,  or  months,  crowded  together  in  the 
narrow  limits  of  one  dirty  village.  Here  they  are  fleeced  by  the 
priests,  under  the  pretext  that  the  efficacy  of  their  pilgrim- 
age depends  on  their  paying  good  fees  for  Brahminical  prayers 
and  the  performance  of  religious  rites,  and  for  the  privilege  of 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  97 

bathing  in  the  sacred  stream,  or  for  worshiping  the  renowned 
deity  of  the  place.  The  cholera  seldom  fails  to  cut  down  the 
wretched  multitude  with  pitiless  havoc. 

But  these  holy  places  are  not  merely,  and  perhaps  not  prin- 
cipally, the  resorts  of  pilgrims  for  religious  purposes.  They  are 
the  rendezvous  of  the  vilest  of  the  vile,  congregated  here  not  to 
pay  their  adorations  to  the  god  of  the  place  or  to  the  sacred 
stream,  but  to  compass  their  own  base  purposes,  and  add  another 
list  to  the  long  catalogue  of  human  crimes.  The  gambler,  the 
cheat,  the  libertine  and  prostitute  are  prominent  characters  in 
these  motley  multitudes. 

The  same  is  essentially  true  of  the  celebration  of  holy  days, 
and  days  of  public  worship  of  the  gods.  At  best,  these  are  but 
days  of  amusement  and  frivolity,  and  only  tend  to  debase  and 
corrupt  the  minds  of  the  people.  On  these  occasions  no  re- 
straint is  laid  on  children  and  youth.  They  attend  and  mingle 
freely  in  all  these  scenes  of  foolery,  vice  and  low  obscenity, 
without  any  one  to  raise  the  note  of  alarm,  or  to  teach  them  to 
hate  what  is  so  instinctively  hateful.  Their  fathers  and  mothers, 
and  the  reputedly  wise  and  holy,  bear  a  part  in  rites  and  observ- 
ances the  most  childish,  if  not  abominable ;  and  why  should  they 
not  follow  in  their  footsteps  ? 

Hindooism  has  no  heart.  It  scarcely,  if  at  all,  affects  the 
moral  feelings  of  the  man.  A  man  may  be  very  religious,  and 
yet  indulge  any  corrupt  passion  flesh  is  heir  to.  His  holiness 
consists  in  a  stock  in  trade  which  he  has  accummulated  by  acts 
of  penance  or  of  worship,  the  quantity  always  being  in  propor- 
tion to  the  bodily  exercise  or  infliction  of  pain.  Nor  need  he 
personally  accumulate  righteousness.  He  may  do  it  by  proxy, 
or  buy  of  him  who  has  to  sell.  Religion  is  a  business  to  be  per- 
formed by  its  appropriate  class  or  caste  of  men,  subject  to  simi- 
lar restrictions  of  caste  as  any  other  business.  It  is  the  work 
of  the  priest.  A  person  of  any  other  caste  has  nothing  to  do 
with  religion,  except  to  perform  a  few  unmeaning  ceremonies, 
submit  to  any  imposed  penances,  and  pay  his  money.  He 
depends  for  the  atonement  of  his  sins,  for  righteousness  and  the 


98  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

salvation  of  his  soul,  on  a  class  of  men  who  do  these  things  for 
hire.  Righteousness  is  bought  and  sold  like  any  other  commod- 
ity. A  late  Hindoo  prince  in  one  day  paid  a  devotee  25,000 
rupees  ($12,000)  for  his  righteousness.  Priests  and  devotees  go 
through  the  different  duties  of  religion  officially,  without  the  least 
appearance  of  seriousness;  and  the  people  having  little  or  noth- 
ing to  do  in  the  matter,  and  being  taught  that  they  cannot 
understand  it,  concern  themselves  but  little  on  the  subject.  By 
religion  is  meant  pilgrimages,  processions,  penances,  prostrations 
to  idols,  presents  to  Brahmuns,  repetitions  of  names,  counting 
of  beads,  observances  of  holy  days,  and  such  like  mummeries. 
With  all  the  talk  of  the  wise  and  holy  about  divine  contempla- 
tion, abstraction,  absorption  in  the  deity,  nothing  is  so  dif- 
ficult to  teach  this  people  as  the  spirituality  of  our  religion.  In 
all  their  religious  notions  and  habits,  they  never  connect  religion 
with  the  heart. 

Credulity  is  a  marked  feature  in  the  Hindoo's  belief.  He 
scarcely  pretends  to  believe  because  his  reason  is  convinced,  for 
reason  has  nothing  to  do  with  his  religion.  Nor  does  he  practice 
the  rites  and  observe  the  ceremonies  of  his  religion  because  he 
sees  in  them  any  suitableness  to  his  condition  as  a  sinner,  or  any 
adaptedness  to  his  wants  in  this  world  or  the  world  to  come. 
But  he  so  believes  and  practices  because  his  fathers  did  so  before 
him.  This  he  regards  as  an  incontrovertible  answer  to  all  you 
can  urge  against  his  religion.  He  thinks  it  presumption  to  call 
in  question  the  wisdom  of  his  wiser  and  holier  forefathers.  He 
has  no  more  need  of  reason  in  his  religion  than  he  has  of  heart. 

Hindooism,  I  said,  is  priestcraft,  and  the  priests  are  notorious 
for  their  duplicity  and  avarice.  The  people  are  the  dupes  of  the 
most  designing,  voracious  set  of  men.  Their  sacred  writings, 
their  national  legends,  the  oral  teachings  of  the  priests,  custom, 
caste,  every  influence  that  can  be  brought  to  act  on  the  fears 
and  superstitions  of  an  ignorant  people,  are  brought  into  play 
for  this  purpose.  The  people  are  dependent  on  the  priests  for 
everything — not  in  matters  of  religious  belief  and  practice 
alone,  but  in  all  the  affairs  of  common  life.  The  Brahmuns 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  99 

hold  the  keys  of  all  knowledge  and  mystery.  They  can  as  effect- 
ually open  and  shut  the  hidden  stores  of  happiness  or  wealth,  as 
they  can  the  treasures  of  heaven.  Hence  the  perfect  subser- 
viency of  the  people  to  the  priests.  They  revere  them  as  gods, 
fall  down  and  worship  them,  make  them  offerings,  and  lick  the 
dust  of  their  feet. 

The  religious  character  of  the  Hindoo  may  be,  also,  inferred 
from  the  number  and  character  of  his  gods.  ISTominally,  there 
are  33,000,000.  It  is  nearer  the  truth  to  say  they  are  pantheists. 
They  worship  everything  but  the  true  God,  and  believe  anything 
but  the  truth.  They  adore  the  sun,  moon  and  stars ;  they  wor- 
ship through  the  medium  of  images  of  wood,  stone,  iron,  brass, 
silver  or  gold,  a  great  variety  of  imaginary  deities,  superior  and 
inferior.  Under  every  green  tree  and  on  every  high  hill  may  be 
seen  the  disgusting  emblems  of  idolatry.  Sometimes  the  idol  is 
but«an  uncarved  stone,  or  a  shapeless  piece  of  wood,  daubed  at 
the  top  with  a  little  red  paint ;  sometimes  it  is  of  elegant  work- 
manship, and  presents  an  imposing  appearance.  Often  are  these 
fabled  deities  richly  ornamented,  and  seated  in  an  elegant 
temple,  attended  by  a  great  company  of  priests,  bathed  with 
Ganges  water,  which  may  have  been  brought  overland  a  thousand 
miles,  clothed  in  gaudy  attire,  perfumed,  decked  with  garlands 
of  flowers,  supplied  with  food  and  offerings  of  money,  attended 
by  servants  who  wave  the  fan  over  their  heads  to  cool  them  or 
drive  away  the  flies,  and  are  worshiped  by  people  as  stupid 
and  unconcerned  about  the  act  performed  as  the  dumb  idols. 

Once  a  year  these  idols  are  taken  from  their  places,  seated  on 
cars  of  enormous  size  and  splendor,  and  drawn  through  the 
streets,  amidst  the  shouts  and  acclamations  of  the  multitude. 
Great  pains  are  taken  to  keep  up  the  character  of  these  gods 
ind  to  inspire  the  multitude  with  awe.  It  is  pretended  by  the 
priests  that  miracles  are  from  time  to  time  wrought  by  them,  and 
that  they  occasionally  utter  oracles  to  the  priests.  These  things, 
however,  are  always  done  in  the  darkness  of  the  night,  and  we 
in  vain  seek  other  testimony  than  that  of  the  designing  priest- 
hood. Indeed,  the  multitude  are  not  permited  to  enter  the 


100  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

temples  at  all,  and  seldom  or  never  see  the  god,  except  on  his 
annual  festival. 

The  tree,  the  blade  of  grass,  the  vegetable,  the  flower,  the 
grain,  are  objects  of  adoration.  They  worship  the  reptile,  the 
serpent  and  the  fish.  They  pay  divine  honors  to  the  birds  of 
the  air  and  to  the  beasts  of  the  field.  They  adore  the  ox,  the 
cow  and  the  horse.  Whatever  is  useful  and  conducive  to  their 
comfort  or  gratification,  and  whatever  they  fear,  they  make  the 
objects  of  their  worship.  How  debasing  is  idolatry!  The 
noblest  part. of  man  is  thus  brought  down  from  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  grand  and  ennobling  realities  of  heaven,  and  is  con- 
fined to  the  contemplation  of  a  piece  of  wood,  or  a  stone,  or  a 
loathsome  reptile.  But  this  is  not  all :  the  influence  of  idolatry 
is  not  only  degrading,  not  only  belittleing  to  the  mind,  but  it 
vitiates  the  heart.  It  benumbs  the  kindlier  feelings  of  our 
natures,  and  dries  up  all  those  sweet  fountains  of  life  which 
send  forth  their  streams  to  refresh  and  gladden  the  weary 
pilgrim  on  his  way  through  this  wilderness  world. 

They  attribute  to  their  gods  all  the  vile  passions  of  human 
nature:  lying,  deception,  thefts,  adulteries,  intrigues,  and  all 
manner  of  sins.  What  can  we  expect  the  votaries  of  such  gods 
will  be  ?  They  may  emulate  their  gods,  they  may  be  like  them. 
But  who  ever  thinks  it  incumbent  on  him  to  be  better  than 
his  god  ?  The  Hindoo  may  find  an  apology  for  any  sin  he  may 
wish  to  commit,  in  the  precept  of  his  Bible  or  the  character  of 
his  god. 

The  Hindoos,  however,  are  not  a  very  religious  people,  even  in 
their  own  acceptation  of  the  term.  They  worship  their  gods  at 
option,  observe  festivals  and  holidays  as  pastimes,  and  go 
through  the  drudgery  of  rites  and  observances,  either  for  the 
sake  of  a  livelihood  or  for  a  name.  Their  bigotry  does  not 
often  appear,  except  when  elicited  by  opposition.  They  find  in 
Hindooism  a  counterpart  of  their  own  corrupt  hearts.  It  im- 
poses no  restraints  on  their  passions,  it  demands  no  sacrifices 
which  the  most  depraved  heart  cannot  render,  and  therefore 
they  prefer  their  religion  to  any  other.  But  a  few  unmeaning 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  101 

acts,  a  few  heartless  observances,  make  up  the  religion  of  this 
wretched  people.  Enmity  to  God,  hatred  to  holiness,  is  really 
the  prominent  characteristic  of  the  Hindoo.  No  argument  is 
necessary  to  show  that  nothing  but  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ 
can  supply  the  desired  antidote.  The  disease  lies  deep  in  the 
heart.  Nothing  can  reach  it  but  Gospel  truth.  Give  the 
heathen  the  Gospel,  and  you  at  once  throw  open  to  them  a 
fountain  which  alone  can  wash  them  from  the  moral  pollutions  of 
a  hundred  generations.  In  view  of  the  religious  character  of 
the  heathen,  what,  Christian  reader,  seems  to  be  your  duty  in 
reference  to  the  work  of  the  world's  conversion?  Have  you 
done  all  you  ought  to  do  —  all  you  can  do  ?  This  question  will 
recur  at  the  great  day  with  an  awful  solemnity. 

Their  heaven  is  a  place  of  unbridled  sensuality,  with  the  phys- 
ical susceptibility  on  their  part  of  perpetual  indulgence.  After 
a  series  of  transmigrations,  in  which  they  may  be  successful  or 
unsuccessful  in  bringing  their  righteousness  to  preponderate  over 
their  sin,  and  so  pass  accordingly  into  a  higher  or  a  lower  state 
of  existence,  the  soul  at  length  finds  rest  in  one  of  the  seven 
heavens.  So  absurd  and  contradictory  are  all  their  theories  of  a 
future  state,  and  so  trifling  and  carnal  are  all  their  notions  on 
this  subject,  as  to  afford  nothing  on  which  the  mind  can  repose. 
Their  darkened  souls  can  never  be  cheered  with  the  hope  of  a 
glorious  immortality.  All  beyond  the  grave  is  dark,  unknown. 
I  have  often  listened  to  their  various  theories  of  a  future  state, 
but  have  never  met  with  one  who,  if  he  were  not  prevented  by 
pride  to  sustain  his  argument,  would  not  confess  that  neither  he 
nor  any  one  knew  anything  "  what  will  be  beyond  the  grave." 
Neither  fears  nor  hopes  seem  often  to  sustain  or  depress  them  in 
the  hour  of  death.  Most  that  can  be  said  is,  they  have  a  dark 
foreboding  of  the  future  —  a  dread  to  cease  to  live  and  to  enter 
on  an  unknown  state  of  existence. 

Dark  indeed  are  the  prospects  of  the  heathen  world.     Not  a 

mi 
^       penetrates   the   dark   abyss   which   stretches   out 

beyond  the  river  of  death.  "We  follow  him  to  the  furthest  pre- 
cincts of  revealed  light.  "We  see  him  enter  the  portals  of  eter- 


102  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

nal  darkness,  thence  we  hear  a  voice  saying,  "  No  idolater  shall 
enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Here  we  must  leave  the  poor 
heathen.  Little  would  it  avail  in  the  mind  of  the  devoted  saint, 
if  he  could,  by  any  process  of  reasoning,  convince  himself  that 
here  and  there  one  out  of  the  hundreds  of  millions  of  heathen 
might  feel  his  way,  guided  by  the  dim  lamp  of  nature,  to  the 
realms  of  eternal  day.  Could  he,  indeed,  know  that  there  are  a 
few  pious  heathen,  (a  fact  by  no  means  established,)  this  would 
form  but  a  sorry  excuse  for  neglecting  the  millions  who  must  per- 
ish without  the  Gospel. 

Another  feature  of  the  religious  character  of  the  Hindoo, 
which  has  an  important  practical  bearing  on  his  life,  and  pre- 
sents a  no  slight  obstacle  in  the  way  of  his  moral  and  religious 
improvement,  is  his  inveterate  fatalism.  On  this  subject  the 
Hindoo  writings  teach  that  it  is  "  the  Great  Spirit  which  is  dif- 
fused through  every  form  of  animated  matter ;  that  actions  of 
every  kind  are  his;  that  he  is  the  charioteer,  and  the  body 
the  chariot;  that  it  is  the  highest  attainment  of  human  wisdom 
to  realize  the  fact,  that  the  human  soul  and  Brahmu  are  one  and 
the  same.  By  this  doctrine,  all  accountability  is  destroyed,  and 
liability  to  punishment  rendered  preposterous.  How  often  has 
the  author  heard  it  urged  by  the  most  sensible  Hindoos,  that  the 
moving  cause  of  every  action,  however  flagitious,  is  God;  that 
man  is  an  instrument  upon  which  God  plays  what  tune  he 
pleases.  Another  modification  of  this  doctrine  is  that  of  fate, 
unchangeable  destiny ;  embraced,  without  a  dissentient  voice,  by 
all  the  Hindoos.  Thus  the  Deity,  on  his  throne,  is  insulted  as 
the  author  of  all  crimes ;  and  men  are  emboldened  to  rush  for- 
ward in  the  swiftest  career  of  iniquity." 

The  Hindoos  are  the  most  cold-blooded  fatalists  in  the  world. 
Every  occurrence  in  life  is  the  result  of  dire  necessity.  If  they 
are  prosperous,  it  is  fate.  If  they  are  in  distress,  it  is  fate.  To 
lie,  cheat,  or  steal,  is  fate.  To  be  idle,  dissipated,  impoverished, 
and  imprisoned,  is  fate.  The  poor  sufferer  apparently  feels 
no  remorse  that  his  own  sin  has  brought  misery  on  him.  He 
only  curses  his  hard  fate.  The  thief  or  the  robber  is  detected, 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  103 

convicted,  and  condemned  to  prison  or  chains  for  life.  He  ap- 
parently never  regards  himself  as  suffering  the  just  penalty  of 
the  violated  law.  He  submits  with  the  uttermost  coolness  to 
his  lot,  as  being  the  irresistible  decision  of  fate,  over  which  he 
could  have  no  control,  and  in  which  he  has  no  responsibility. 
The  murderer  is  arraigned,  tried,  and  sentenced  to  the  gallows. 
He  confesses  no  guilt,  and  manifests  the  most  perfect  indiffer- 
ence. The  intention,  the  act  of  murder,  the  detection,  the  sen- 
tence, and  the  execution,  are  all  alike  the  consequences  of  incor- 
rigible fate,  in  which  he  had  no  direction,  agency,  or  responsi- 
bility. Declaring  his  innocency  to  the  last,  he  goes  to  the  gal- 
lows as  coolly  as  he  would  go  to  his  dinner,  and  launches  into 
eternity  as  regardless  of  futurity  as  the  brutes.  All  with  him  is 
fate.  The  application  which  natives  frequently  make  of  this 
term  is  sometimes  really  laughable.  A  child,  who  was  usually 
very  peevish  and  noisy,  was  one  day  crying  incessantly,  to  the 
great  annoyance  of  all  in  the  house.  A  hamal  (bearer)  who 
took  care  of  him,  and  was  much  attached  to  him,  hearing  the 
complaints  which  were  brought  against  his  little  charge,  felt 
called  on  to  defend  him  from  all  censure  on  that  subject.  "  The 
child  is  not  to  be  blamed  for  crying,"  said  he,  "  it  is  his  fate  to  cry." 

It  will  not  be  an  unbefitting  close  of  this  chapter  to  inquire  what 
has  been  done,  and  what  is  doing,  to  save  India  from  the  demoral- 
ization of  her  religion,  and  the  vortex  of  her  despotism  ?  I  have 
said  that  the  prevalence  of  a  pure  Christianity  is  the  only  remedy. 
Had  this  been  applied  in  time — had  the  East  India  Government 
done  what  it  could  to  favor  the  introduction  of  Christianity  and 
all  its  benign  institutions  into  her  populous  provinces  of  the  East, 
and  had  the  Christian  church  followed  up,  to  the  full  extent  of  her 
ability,  the  unprecedented  openings  which  Providence  had  thus 
made — had  she  employed  the  facilities  which  were  in  so  extra- 
ordinary a  manner  put  into  her  hands,  India  would  probably 
have  been  saved  her  present  calamities,  and  the  government 
been  spared  an  atrocious  and  expensive  war,  and  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  secured  one  of  its  richest  conquests. 

But  what  has  been  done,  and  what  are  the  available  resources 


104  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

which  Christianity  at  the  present  time  possesses  for  further  con- 
quests in  that  great  field  ?  I  cannot,  probably,  answer  the  ques- 
tion better  than  by  transcribing  a  statistical  paragraph  from  an 
article  in  a  late  number  of  the  Calcutta  Review.  The  article 
seems  to  be  got  up  by  an  intelligent  writer  in  the  country,  and 
comes  to  us  indorsed  by  our  late  excellent  missionary,  Mr. 
Hume,  of  Bombay.  It  is  believed  to  contain  reliable,  as  it  cer- 
tainly does  encouraging,  facts  as  to  what  has  been  effected  by 
missionary  effort  in  India  and  Ceylon,  in  the  last  half  century. 
It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  while  reading  this  extract,  that  the 
larger  part  of  these  results  have  been  gained  within  a  few  years. 
It  was  an  immensely  difficult  work,  and  one  which  required  a 
long  time,  to  prepare  the  ground  and  get  in  the  seed,  the  first 
fruits  of  which  are  beginning  to  appear.  When  it  is  said  that 
"  five  thousand  have  been  received  into  the  churches  on  evidence 
of  their  conversion,"  it  is  not  meant  to  throw  discredit  on  the 
conversion  of  the  remaining  number ;  but  we  are  probably  to 
understand,  that  while  many  have  been  taken  into  a  nominal 
connection  with  the  church  by  baptism,  which  has  been  readily 
done  by  the  missionaries  of  some  societies,  especially  in  South- 
ern India,  yet  none  of  these  have  been  admitted  to  full  com- 
munion, till,  in  the  judgment  of  charity,  they  could  be  regarded 
as  real  Christians. 

"At  the  close  of  1850,  fifty  years  after  the  modern  English 
and  American  societies  had  begun  their  labor  in  Hindoostan, 
and  thirty  years  since  they  have  been  carried  on  in  full  effi- 
ciency, the  STATIONS,  at  which  the  Gospel  is  preached  in  India 
and  Ceylon,  are  two  hundred  and  sixty  in  number,  and  engage  the 
services  of  FOUR  HUNDRED  AND  FORTY-THREE  MISSIONARIES,  belong- 
ing to  twenty-two  missionary  societies.  Of  these  missionaries, 

TWENTY-TWO    ARE    ORDAINED    NATIVES.       Assisted   by    SIX    HUNDRED 

AND  EIGHTY-EIGHT  NATIVE  PREACHERS,  they  proclaim  the  word  of 
God  in  the  bazaars  and  markets,  not  only  at  their  several  stuii<  ms, 
but  in  the  districts  around  them.  They  have  thus^pread  far 
and  wide  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  and  have  made  a  consid- 
erable impression  even  upon  the  unconverted  population.  They 


INDIA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE.  105 

have  founded  three  hundred  and  nine  NATIVE  CHURCHES,  containing 
seventeen  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty-six  MEMBERS,  or  COMMU- 
NICANTS, of  whom  five  thousand  were  admitted  on  the  evidence  of 
their  being  converted.  These  church  members  form  the  nucleus 

Of  a  NATIVE    CHRISTIAN   COMMUNITY,  Comprising    ONE   HUNDRED   AND 

TWELVE  THOUSAND  individuals,  who  regularly  enjoy  the  blessings 
of  Bible  instruction,  both  for  young  and  old.  The  efforts  of 
missionaries  in  the  cause  of  education,  are  now  directed  to  thir- 
teen hundred  and  forty-five  DAY  SCHOOLS,  in  which  eighty-three  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  boys  are  instructed  through  the  medium  of 
their  own  vernacular  language ;  to  seventy-three  BOARDING  SCHOOLS, 
containing  nineteen  hundred  and  ninety-two  boys,  chiefly  Christian, 
who  reside  upon  the  missionaries'  premises,  and  are  trained  up 
under  their  eye ;  and  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  DAY  SCHOOLS, 
with  fourteen  thousand  boys  and  students,  receiving  a  sound  scrip- 
tural education,  through  the  medium  of  the  English  language. 
Their  efforts  in  FEMALE  EDUCATION  embrace  three  hundred  and 
fifty-four  DAY  SCHOOLS,  with  eleven  thousand  five  hundred  girls ;  and 
ninety-one  BOARDING  SCHOOLS,  with  two  thousand  four  hundred  and 
fifty  girls,  taught  almost  exclusively  in  the  vernacular  languages. 
The  BIBLE  has  been  wholly  translated  into  ten  languages,  and  the 
New  Testament  into  five  others,  not  reckoning  the  Serampore 
versions.  In  these  ten  languages,  a  considerable  Christian  liter- 
ature has  been  produced,  and  also  from  twenty  to  fifty  tracts,  suit- 
able for  distribution  among  the  Hindoo  and  Mussulman  popula- 
tion. Missionaries  have  also  established,  and  now  maintain, 
twenty-five  printing  establishments.  While  preaching  the  Gospel 
regularly  in  these  numerous  tongues  of  India,  missionaries  main- 
tain ENGLISH  SERVICES  in  fifty-nine  chapels,  for  the  edification  of 
our  own  countrymen.  The  total  cost  of  this  vast  missionary 
agency,  during  the  past  year,  amounted  to  ONE  HUNDRED  AND 
EIGHTY-SEVEN  THOUSAND  POUNDS  ;  of  which  thirty-three  thousand  five 
hundred  pounds  were  contributed  in  this  country;  not  by  the 
native  Christian  community,  but  by  Europeans." 

"We  glean  from  a  similar  source  a  variety  of  facts,  of  a  gen- 
eral and  far-reaching  character,  which  we  may  safely  take  as 


106  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

prognostics  of  the  rising  star  of  India.  The  demon  of  war  may 
sorely  scourge  her  first;  but  when  the  smoke  of  the  battle-field 
shall  have  cleared  away,  and  the  ruins  of  war  shall  be  repaired, 
and  peace  again  smile,  we  divine  great  and  good  things  for  India. 
The  rich  temples  of  Brahmu  shall  become  the  sanctuaries  of  a 
great  people  devoted  to  the  service  of  the  living  God. 

"Within  a  few  years  what  elements  of  progress  have  been  in- 
troduced into  India — aside,  I  mean,  from  the  direct  agencies  of 
Christianity. 

Among  these  are  the  construction  of  railroads,  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  magnetic  telegraph,  the  greatly  increased  power  of 
the  press,  steam  navigation  on  her  great  rivers,  the  more  rapid 
transmission  of  the  mail  to  Europe,  improvements  in  postal  ar- 
rangements, reforms  of  the  marriage  law  and  of  the  law  of  in- 
heritance, and  a  growing  interest  in  female  education.  Caste, 
too,  has,  to  some  encouraging  extent,  loosened  its  hold  on  the 
habits  of  the  people.  America  is  now  within  six  weeks  of 
India,  and  soon  England  will  be  within  twenty  days'  distance, 
and  America  within  thirty  days.  Such  proximity  to  two  such 
nations  must  have  a  powerful  agency  in  bringing  about  import- 
ant changes  in  the  character  and  institutions  of  that  country. 

There  is  hope  for  India ;  and  there  are  strange  forebodings  in 
the  Hindoo  mind,  (as  there  is  in  the  mind  of  the  Moslem,)  which 
justify  our  hopes.  "A  strong  impression,"  says  one,  "is  prevail- 
ing, that  there  is  soon  to  be  a  serious  defection  from  the  ranks 
of  Hindooism.  In  Bombay,  for  some  months  there  has  been  an 
unusual  degree  of  excitement  and  alarm  in  view  of  the  progress 
of  Christianity,  and  the  springing  up  of  a  more  liberal  and  re- 
forming spirit  in  certain  quarters  among  themselves.  It  is  well 
known  that  many  of  the  better  educated  young  men  have  lost 
all  confidence  in  Hindooism,  while  not  a  few  are  intellectually 
convinced  of  the  truth  of  Christianity.  Numerous  reports  have 
been  circulated,  that  on  such  or  such  a  day,  or  in  a  few  days, 
ten,  fifteen,  twenty,  or  more,  were  to  be  baptized.  This  blind 
fear  that  an  impending  fatal  blow  is  soon  to  be  received  by  Hin- 
dooism, is  further  increased  by  the  new  law,  which  secures  the 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  107 

right  of  property,  &c.,  to  converts.  All  the  struggles  which 
they  shall  now  make  will  but  hasten  the  time  of  the  Gospel's 
triumph." 


CHAPTER    VII. 

The  Deckan  —  Its  extent  —  Tenure  of  lands — Face  of  the  country — Climate,  sea- 
sons, soil,  productions  —  Walled  towns  —  Open  country  —  Flocks  and  herds  — 
No  roads  —  Modes  of  conveyance — Rivers  —  Chief  towns — Sketch  of  Poona. 

THE  Deckan  has  already  become  the  principal  field  for  the 
'benevolent  operation  of  the  American  churches  in  Western  In- 
dia. Not  only  does  it  present  a  wide  and  extensive  field,  but 
there  are  fewer  obstacles  to  the  pleasant  and  successful  prosecu- 
tion of  missions  by  Americans.  A  brief  historical  sketch  will, 
therefore,  be  acceptable  to  the  inquiring  reader ;  for  every  thing 
which  goes  to  elucidate  the  history  of  a  heathen  nation,  is  a  step 
gained  towards  its  Christianization.  Christians  cannot  be  brought 
to  act  for  the  emancipation  of  India  till  a  corresponding  feeling 
be  excited ;  and  this  feeling  will  not  exist  till  there  be  a  corre- 
sponding knowledge  of  the  character,  condition,  and  history  of 
the  people  for  whom  they  are  called  to  feel  and  act.  We  by  no 
means  despair  that  the  Lord  has  yet  a  great  work  for  his  people 
to  do  in  India.  The  cloud  will  be  removed,  and  a  better  day 
dawn. 

The  word  Deckan,  Dashina,  or  south  country,  is  a  term  of 
somewhat  indefinite  import ;  it  was  formerly  applied  by  Hindoo 
geographers  to  all  the  countries  which  lie  south  of  the  Nerbud- 
dah  river.  But  the  Mohammedans,  holding  no  permanent  pos- 
sessions south  of  the  river  Krishna,  applied  the  name  Deckan  to 
the  countries  which  were  situated  between  these  two  rivers,  and 
extending  from  the  Indian  Ocean  on  the  west  to  the  bay  of 
Bengal  on  the  east.  Since  the  conquests  by  the  English,  the 


108  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

term  has  undergone  another  limitation.  What  now  is  generally 
understood  by  the  Deckan,  is  that  part  of  the  above  mentioned  ter- 
ritory which  is  owned  by  the  English.  This  is  bounded  on  the  north 
and  the  south  by  the  Nerbuddah  and  the  Krishna  rivers ;  on  the 
west  by  the  Ghaut  Mountains,  and  on  the  east  by  the  Godavery 
river,  which  separates  it  from  the  territories  of  the  Nizam  of 
Hydrabad;  including  the  districts  of  Poona,  Ahmednuggur, 
Cankish,  Darwar,  and  the  possession  of  the  Rajah  of  Sattara. 

Deckan,  thus  limited,  has  a  population  of  ten  or  twelve  mil- 
lions, three-fourths  of  whom  speak  the  Mahratha  language. 
This  territory  comprises  on  area  of  70,000  square  miles,  and  con- 
tains, according  to  Hamilton's  Indian  Gazeteer,  9,481  towns  and 
villages,  7,229  of  which  belong  to  the  British  Government.  And 
here  the  inquiry  will  naturally  arise,  to  whom  do  the  others 
belong  ?  It  may,  therefore,  be  well  here  to  explain  the  peculiar 
manner  in  which  this  part  of  the  country  is  possessed.  Govern- 
ments within  governments  are  common,  I  believe,  throughout 
India.  The  origin  of  such  a  state  of  things  seems  to  have  been 
this :  martial  chieftains,  and  others  deserving  well  of  the  state, 
were  rewarded,  by  their  prince,  with  the  government  of  a  cer- 
tain number  of  cities  or  villages,  according  to  their  bravery,  or 
the  number  of  troops  which  they  had  furnished,  or  the  services 
which  they  had  otherwise  rendered.  As  one  of  these  chieftains 
increased  the  number  of  his  villages,  he  increased  his  army  and 
extended  his  power,  and  in  time  became  an  independent  prince. 
This  was  the  case  with  Sindia  and  Holkar,  who  were  once  gen- 
erals in  the  Peshwa's  army.  They  fought  for  him,  till  he  had 
enabled  them  to  fight  against  him ;  then  they  fought  for  them- 
selves, and  established  dominions  in  Central  India,  still  holding 
the  possessions  which  had  been  given  them  by  the  Peshwa  in 
the  Deckan. 

"We  will,  for  the  sake  of  illustrating  this  subject,  take  for  an 
example  the  district  or  collectorate  of  Ahmednuggur.    This  con 
tains  6,000  or  8,000  square  miles,  and  2,647  towns  and  villages. 
One  hundred  and  eight  of  these  are  enams,  that  is,  they  have 
been  given  as  a  present  to  families  or  individuals,  in  considera- 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  109 

tion  of  some  important  service  which  the  parties  have  rendered 
to  government;  one  hundred  and  ninety-eight  are  jarghires 
(freeholds) ;  one  hundred  and  seventy-nine  belong  to  Sindia, 
eighty  to  Holkar,  and  forty-four  to  the  Nizam  of  Hydrabad. 
These  different  persons  own  their  respective  villages,  and  exer- 
cise in  tjaem  their  several  governments,  independent  of  each 
other.  There  is  also  another  description  of  land  and  village  pro- 
prietors, whose  tenure,  to  the  ear  of  an  American,  appears  some- 
what curious.  Lands  and  villages  are  owned  by  Hindoo  gods. 
These  places,  which  are  not  a  few  in  number,  have,  at  some  for- 
mer period,  been  given  by  their  respective  owners  to  their  favor- 
ite deities ;  and  the  revenue  of  each  village  is,  from  this  time, 
devoted  to  the  supposed  benefit  of  its  god.  This  is  expended  in 
the  different  services  at  the  temple,  as  bathing  the  god,  burning 
incense,  fanning  the  idol,  sweeping  the  temple,  and  such  like ;  in 
sacrifices,  feastings,  and  processions;  and  in  the  support  of  as 
great  a  number  of  Brahmuns,  and  wives  of  the  god,  as  the  rev- 
enue will  allow.  The  reader  will  have  a  better  idea  of  these 
religious  establishments,  when  he  has  read  the  seventeenth  chap- 
ter of  this  volume. 

Hence  it  is  that  the  traveler  or  the  missionary  is  heard  to 
speak  of  being  in  the  possession  of  different  native  princes,  in  the 
same  region  of  country,  and  in  the  same  day.  In  traveling 
twenty  miles,  we  may  preach  in  one  village  belonging  to  the 
English,  another  to  Sindia,  a  third  to  Holkar,  and  a  fourth  the 
property  of  Gunputtee  or  Khundoba.  This  state  of  things  ex- 
isted under  the.  native  government,  and  has  been  permitted  to 
remain  by  the  English  as  they  found  it.  Something  similar 
seems  alluded  to  in  the  New  Testament.  The  servants  to  whom 
a  nobleman  committed  his  goods,  were  rewarded  by  their  mas- 
ters according  to  their  fidelity ;  one  with  "  ten  cities,"  another 
"  with  five  cities."  One  half  of  the  villages  in  the  vicinity  of 
Ahmednuggur  are  subject  to  Sindia  or  Holkar,  whose  capitals 
are  in  Central  India.  The  suttee  has  been  abolished  under  the 
rule  of  the  British  Government,  but  not  in  the.  dominions  of 
these  princes.  Hence  it  is  that  the  suttee  is  performed  in  the 


110  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

very  heart  of  the  English  possessions,  but  not  under  their  gov- 
ernment. One  of  these  horrid  scenes  took  place,  in  February, 
1834,  within  five  miles  of  Ahmednuggur,  and  no  notice  was 
taken  of  it  by  the  English  Government.  Five  widows,  the 
wives  of  one  chief,  were  burnt,  about  the  same  time,  within 
twenty-five  miles  of  Bombay.  Perhaps  the  English  author- 
ities cannot,  consistently  with  their  stipulations  with  these 
governments  that  they  will  not  interfere  with  their  religion,  di- 
rectly control  these  things;  but  as  they  can  control  where  policy 
requires,  why  may  they  not  when  right  and  humanity  demand  ? 
The  indulgence  which  Brahmunism  has  received  from  the 
existing  government,  is,  in  my  opinion,  reprehensible  in  the 
highest  degree.  There  are  many  good  men,  both  in  England 
and  in  the  service  of  government  in  India,  who  are  sadly  grieved 
at  it,  but  are  unable  to  apply  the  remedy.  Treaties  were  entered 
into,  and  stipulations  were  made  with  the  different  native  pow- 
ers, when  they  yielded  to  British  domination,  which  put  it 
beyond  the  power  of  the  present  Executive  to  pursue  that  stern 
Christian  policy,  which,  as  a  Christian  nation,  to  a  nation  of  idol- 
aters, they  are  most  solemnly  bound  to  pursue.  The  present 
government  is  reduced  to  the  sad  alternative  of  violating  a  most 
unchristian  treaty,  or  of  regarding  it.  They  have  received  large 
sums  of  money  as  the  price  of  idolatry,  as  in  the  case  of  the  pil- 
grim-tax ;  and  perhaps  still  larger  sums  go  out  from  their  treas- 
ury every  year  for  the  support  of  Hindooism,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  revenues  allowed  to  different  temples.  As  a  sort  of  offset 
against  some  of  these  things,  they  support  schools  for  the  na- 
tives, on  the  principles  of  free  toleration,  not  allowing  religion 
of  any  kind  to  be  taught  in  them.  As  the  teachers  are  idolaters 
and  priests,  and  the  scholars  are  idolaters,  and  need  no  teaching 
to  keep  them  so,  the  free  toleration  amounts  only  to  this,  that 
Christianity  shall  not  be  taught  in  them.  I  have  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  how  the  principle  of  these  schools  operates,  both 
in  Ahmednuggur-  and  other  places,  and  have  found  these  schools 
more  opposed  to  Christianity  than  those  wholly  under  the  pat- 
ronage of  the  Hindoos  themselves. 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  Ill 

The  Deckan  has  an  elevation  above  the  sea-coast  of  about 
2,000  feet.  It  may  be  called  an  extensive  table-land  of  the 
Eastern  and  Western  Ghauts.  In  traveling  from  Bombay  to 
Ahmednuggur,  we  pass  over  the  low  and  level  lands  of  the 
Concon,  which  are  either  occupied  as  rice  fields,  or  contain 
large  groves  of  cocoa-nut  trees,  and  ascend  these  rugged  moun- 
tains on  the  west,  by  a  winding  road  to  Kandalla,  a  village  at 
the  top  of  the  Ghauts,  and  a  place  of  some  celebrity  as  a  con- 
valescent station  for  European  invalids.  This  road  is  a  work  of 
enormous  magnitude,  and  does  honor  to  the  enterprise  of  the 
English  Government,  at  whose  expense  it  was  constructed.  The 
view  from  the  top  of  the  Ghauts  is  magnificent.  In  the  back 
ground  rolls  the  western  ocean,  stretching  to  the  limits  of  human 
vision,  and  losing  itself  in  the  distant  view  of  the  blue  sky. 
Under  your  feet,  but  nearly  two  thousand  feet  below,  commences 
an  extensive  plain,  intersected  by  numerous  streamlets,  divided 
by  deep  furrows  into  rice  fields,  or  covered  with  groves  of  the 
straight,  slender,  and  stately  cocoa-nut  tree,  or  diversified  with 
the  mango  tree,  with  its  thick  and  beautiful  foliage,  and  its  wide- 
spreading  branches.  Other  portions  are  overrun  with  an  under- 
wood, and  present,  from  this  distant  and  elevated  point,  a  cover- 
ing of  eternal  green.  The  rugged  mountains  themselves  afford 
the  most  sublime  scenery.  They  form  a  pleasing  contrast  with 
the  surrounding  country.  Here  we  seem  to  get  out  of  India, 
and  once  more  to  behold  the  scenery  and  to  breathe  the  atmos- 
phere of  our  native  land.  During  the  rainy  season,  the  natural 
grandeur  of  this  scenery  is  greatly  enhanced  by  the  torrents  of 
water  which  fall  on  these  hights,  and  rush  down,  in  their  forced 
channels,  over  the  perpendicular  rocks  into  the  plain  below.  I 
have  from  one  point  counted  more  than  twenty  of  these  cascades, 
dashing  over  precipices  of  some  hundred  feet,  and  falling  into 
one  common  basin  beneath. 

As  the  traveler  winds  his  way  through  these  frightful  cliffs, 
he  sees  men  and  beasts  of  burden,  borne  down  by  their  heavy 
loads,  struggling  to  attain  his  point  of  elevation ;  or  he  may  see, 
almost  over  his  own  head,  but  on  a  different  bend  of  the  same 


112  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

zigzag  road,  a  company  of  travelers  bending  their  course  to  the 
summit.  Here  he  breathes  a  cool  and  salubrious  air,  and  regales 
himself  with  the  pure  water  of  a  mountain  spring.  As  he  pro- 
ceeds onwards  towards  Ahmednuggur,  by  the  way  of  Poona, 
without  descending,  he  travels  over  an  immense  plain,  diversified 
by  gentle  undulations,  or  broken  up  by  small  abrupt  hills  and 
valleys,  and  intersected  by  a  great  number  of  streams  and  rivu- 
lets, which  take  their  rise  among  the  Ghauts.  He  also  crosses, 
if  it  be  in  the  dry  season,  the  almost  empty  channels  of  four  or 
five  rivers,  of  the  magnitude  of  the  Hudson,  the  Connecticut, 
the  Delaware.  During  the  rainy  seasons,  these  channels  are  full, 
and  perhaps  overflow  their  banks.  (Job  6  :  15-20.) 
j  For  eight  months  in  the  year,  that  is,  during  the  dry  season, 
the  Deckan  presents  but  little  more  than  one  unbroken  waste  of 
barrenness  and  desolation.  No  hedges  or  fences ;  no  houses,  ex- 
cept in  the  villages ;  no  vegetation,  except  here  and  there  a  field 
about  a  well,  or  reservoir  of  water,  called  a  garden,  and  arti- 
ficially watered ;  and  scarcely  a  tree  to  cheer  the  prospect,  except 
it  be  a  fruit  tree,  or  a  shade  tree  about  a  village.  The  country 
presents  a  dreariness  of  aspect  which  must  be  seen  to  be  de- 
scribed. From  November  till  about  the  first  of  July,  the 
country  presents  but  one  dismal  aspect  of  parched  earth  and 
barren  rock.  (Isa.  15:  6.)  But  on  the  return  of  the  rains, 
about  the  middle  of  June,  grass,  flowers,  vines,  weeds,  and  a 
most  luxuriant  vegetation  of  every  description,  spring  up,  as  if 
by  magic ;  and  the  fields,  which  a  few  days  before  seemed  as 
destitute  of  the  root  or  seed  of  vegetation  as  the  ash-heap,  are 
now  covered  with  green  herbage.  The  barren  rock  seems  to 
have  vegetated.  All  nature  smiles.  The  flocks  and  the  herds 
are  no  longer  obliged  to  thrust  their  noses  into  the  earth,  that 
they  may  crop  the  dried  stems  of  the  grass,  or  extract  the  very 
root.  They  are  now  led  out  to  green  pastures,  (Psalm  23  :  2,)  and 
soon  satisfied  from  the  abundant  herbage,  they  lie  down  by  the 
"side  of  still  waters,"  whither  the  shepherd  or  the  herdsman 
has  guided  them,  or  repose  under  the  shade  of  the  mango. 

The  eight  dry  months    include   both   the    cool  and   the  hot 


BAMBOO   TREE. 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  113 

seasons.  The  cool  season  commences  with  November,  and  the 
hot  season  with  March.  The  atmosphere  in  the  Deckan,  during 
the  cool  season,  is  dry,  clear,  and  cool.  The  variations  of  heat 
and  cold  during  the  twenty-four  hours  are  much  greater  than 
in  Bombay ;  and,  in  consequence,  the  climate  is  not  so  favorable 
at  this  particular  season  of  the  year  as  it  is  on  the  sea-coast. 
The  extremes  of  cold  and  heat,  from  twelve  at  night  to  twelve  at 
noon,  are  about  45°  and  80°.  Seldom,  however,  does  the  mer- 
cury fall  below  50°,  or  rise  above  70°  or  75°. .  .,  ^  .  , 

From  the  first  of  March  the  weather  becomes  warm ;  but  not 
always  uncomfortably  so,  till  the  commencement  of  the  hot  winds, 
about  the  tenth  of  the  month.  These  winds  are  a  kind  of  sirocco, 
and  resemble  in  a  degree  the  heated  air  from  the  mouth  of  a 
burning  furnace.  There  is  nothing,  however,  pestilential  in 
them.  Europeans,  if  they  are  strong  and  healthy,  do  not  suffer 
from  this  season  ;  and  those  who  are  debilitated  probably  do  not 
suffer  on  account  of  these  winds,  but  rather  on  account  of  the 
great  degree  of  heat.  The  mercury  of  the  thermometer  almost 
daily  ranges  from  90°  to  100°.  This  is  greater,  perhaps,  than 
the  heat  of  the  same  season  in  Bombay.  But  there  is  this  dif- 
ference :  the  nights  in  Bombay  are  as  oppressive  as  the  days ; 
while  in  the  Deckan,  the  nights,  during  a  greater  part  of  the 
season,  are  comparatively  cool.  Hence  we  throw  our  houses  open 
of  a  night,  as  far  as  our  fears  of  thieves  and  robbers  will  allow 
of  it ;  and  by  breathing  the  refreshing  air  a  few  hours,  we  re- 
cover, in  a  degree,  from  the  lassitude  of  an  oppressive  day.  At 
eight  or  nine  in  the  morning,  we  close  every  door  and  window, 
and,  as  far  as  possible,  shut  out  the  heated  atmosphere.  In  this 
way,  a  room  which  has  thick  walls,  and  not  connected  with  the 
roof  of  the  house,  may  be  kept  comparatively,  not  always, 
tolerably  cool.  At  four  or  five  in  the  afternoon,  our  prison 
doors  are  thrown  open,  and  we  go  forth  to  our  duties  without. 
We  can  also  do  the  same  of  a  morning.  The  extreme  heat  of 
this  season  is  moderated  in  Bombay  by  the  sea-breeze,  which 
daily  blows  during  the  same  hours  as  the  hot  winds  in  the 


114  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

Deckan.     These  winds  are  rendered  hot  by  their  passage  over  a 
great  extent  of  heated  land. 

The  remaining  season  is  called  the  wet  or  rainy  season.  This 
commences  about  the  middle  of  June,  and  continues  three  or 
three  and  a  half  months.  Except  in  these  months,  a  shower  of 
rain,  or  a  mist,  seldom  moistens  the  parched  earth.  On  the  sea- 
coast,  the  rains  during  this  season  are  almost  incessant.  Day 
after  day  the  water  falls  in  torrents,  until  the  tanks  and  reser- 
voirs of  water  are  overflowing,  and  many  of  the  fields  are  inun- 
dated. The  heavens  are  shrouded  in  blackness ;  the  atmosphere, 
if  not  streaming  with  the  descending  flood,  is  damp  and  gloomy ; 
the  whole  surface  of  the  ground  is  mud  and  water ;  every  thing 
is  covered  with  rust  or  mould ;  and  nothing  but  the  "  bow  in  the 
cloud"  can  satisfy  the  mind  that  Bombay  and  the  whole  Concon 
is  not  about  to  sink  into  a  watery  grave.  It  need  not  be  said  that 
the  sea-coast  is  an  uncomfortable  as  well  as  an  unhealthful  place 
in  the  rainy  season. 

But  not  so  the  Deckan.  This  is  our  most  delightful  and  salu- 
brious season.  There  we  have  alternate  rain  and  sunshine. 
Genial  showers,  with  intervals  of  clear  weather,  sometimes  of 
two  or  three  days,  water  the  fields  and  nourish  the  springing 
vegetation.  All  nature  wears  a  most  lovely  aspect,  and  only 
man  withholds  the  expression  of  his  gratitude  to  the  Great 
Author  of  all  his  mercies.  The  quantity  of  rain  which  falls  in 
Ahmednuggur,  is  probably  less  than  a  third  part  of  what  falls 
in  Bombay.  Hence  Europeans,  as  far  as  their  business  will  allow 
or  their  means  will  permit,  endeavor  to  spend  the  rainy  season 
east  of  the  Ghauts.  Poona  is  the  most  common  place  of  resort. 
'  The  month  folio  wing  the  rainy  season,  that  is,  October,  may 
be  regarded,  in  all  this  part  of  India,  as  the  most  unhealthful 
month  in  the  year.  Its  insalubrity  arises  principally  from  the 
hot  weather,  and  the  rapid  decay  of  vegetable  matter.  The 
quick  and  luxurious  growth  of  vegetation,  which  covered  the 
whole  face  of  the  country,  now  vanishes  more  rapidly  than  it 
appeared.  The  saturated  earth,  again  exposed  to  the  rays  of  a 
tropical  sun,  sends  up  its  vapors,  and  these  become  impregnated 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  115 

by  the  noxious  miasma  of  the  decaying  vegetation.  But,  as  has 
been  said,  the  quantity  of  rain  is  moderate  in  the  Deckan,  when 
compared  with  that  of  the  sea-coast,  and  consequently  the  vege- 
tation is  proportion  ably  less.  Hence  this  month  in  the  Deckan 
is  much  more  salubrious  than  in  the  Concon.  Persons  disposed 
to  liver  complaints,  or  subject  to  rheumatism,  are  perhaps  the 
only  persons  who  are  not  likely  to  enjoy  better  health  here  than 
in  Bombay,  or  any  part  of  the  Concon. 

The  soil  of  the  Deckan  in  general  is  not  fertile.  If  well 
watered  and  properly  cultivated,  it  produces  well.  The  cultiva- 
tion in  general  is  very  miserable ;  and  not  a  sixth  part  of  the  land 
is  cultivated  at  all.  The  soil  is  not  suited  to  rice.  Wheat  may  be 
grown  in  abundance.  Bajree,  zoondlee  and  gram  are  the  staple 
productions  of  the  Deckan,  and  supply  the  place  of  rice  in  the 
Concon.  Flax  is  grown;  but  the  only  part  used  is  the  seed, 
from  which  oil  is  made.  The  stalks  are  fine  and  short.  Hemp 
is  also  a  common  production,  from  which  ropes,  etc.,  are  manu- 
factured. From  the  tops  of  the  hemp,  the  natives  make  an  in- 
toxicating drink.  The  tops  are  plucked  when  green,  and  after 
being  dried,  are  steeped  in  water  and  drunken.  This  is  called 
bhang.  Nearly  all  European  vegetables  flourish,  if  properly 
cultivated.  Oranges,  limes,  plantains,  bananas,  shaddocks,  gua- 
vas,  grapes,  peaches,  melons,  and  citrons,  only  require  attention 
to  be  produced  in  great  abundance.  The  land  is  never  manured. 
When  the  soil  is  exhausted,  it  can  only  be  recovered  by  allowing 
it  to  remain  fallow  a  few  years.  There  being  no  wood  in  the 
Deckan,  the  manure  is  consumed  for  fuel. 

The  people  in  the  Deckan  do  not  live  on  their  farms,  or  scat- 
tered over  the  country,  but  compactly  in  villages.  This  practice 
probably  originated  from  the  insecurity  which  they  have  ex- 
perienced on  account  of  robbers  and  plunderers,  with  whom  the 
country  was  formerly,  and  is  still  to  some  measure,  infested. 
The  number,  size,  wealth,  and  population  of  the  villages  which 
the  traveler  meets  at  any  given  distance,  depend  very  much  on 
the  fertility  of  that  part  of  the  country.  The  distance  from  one 
village  to  another  is  seldom  less  than  two  miles,  or  more  than 


116  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

six.  The  number  of  houses  varies  from  10  or  12  to  3,000  or 
4,000.  Every  village  is  surrounded  by  a  wall,  and  secured  by 
one  or  more  gates.  The  wall  is  sixteen  or  eighteen  feet  high  ; 
the  lower  part  is  built  of  stone,  and  the  upper  part  of  sun-dried 
bricks.  Nobody,  except  outcasts,  who  are  not  allowed  to  live  in 
the  village,  resides  outside  the  walls,  and  no  one  will  spend  the 
night  without  the  gates,  if  he  can  avoid  it.  A  little  before  sun- 
set, the  people,  who,  in  small  villages,  are  mostly  cultivators, 
may  be  seen  coming  from  the  fields  in  every  direction,  bringing 
their  farming  utensils  and  driving  their  flocks  and  herds  into  the 
village.  Nothing  is  allowed  to  remain  without.  When  the  in- 
habitants have  returned,  and  all  is  secure,  which  is  usually  before 
nine  o'clock,  the  gates  are  closed,  and  kept  during  the  night, 
by  persons  of  the  Mhar  caste,  who  are  the  hereditary  porters  of 
the  village.  In  the  small  villages,  the  people  are  all  cultivators. 
In  the  larger  villages,  there  are  Brahmuns,  shop-keepers,  artists, 
etc.  Every  village,  unless  it  be  very  small  and  poor,  contains  a 
temple,  a  chawdee,  (resting-place  for  travelers,  and  place  of 
resort  for  public  business,)  and  a  public  tank.  In  large  villages, 
these  public  places  are  numerous. 

Another  feature  of  the  Deckan  is,  that  there  are  neither 
fences,  roads,  nor  bridges.  This,  however,  is  not  peculiar  to  the 
Deckan.  Cows,  sheep,  goats,  and  buffaloes  are  driven  .out  from 
the  villages  in  the  morning  by  their  respective  keepers,  who  at- 
tend them  during  the  day,  "  leading  them  by  the  side  of  still 
waters,  and  causing  them  to  lie  down  in  green  pastures."  The 
shepherd  is  always  accompanied  by  his  faithful  dog ;  carries  a 
long  stick,  and  wears  over  his  head  and  shoulders  a  coarse 
blanket.  He  lives  on  the  most  familiar  terms  with  his  flock ; 
they  know  his  voice,  they  follow  him  wherever  he  calls  them ; 
he  brings  back  those  which  stray,  watches  over  the  feeble,  and 
takes  care  of  the  young  ;  "  he  gathers  the  lambs  with  his  arms, 
and  carries  them  in  his  bosom,  and  gently  leads  those  that  are 
with  young."  The  pasture-grounds  are  for  the  common  use  of 
all.  The  shepherd  and  herdsman  lead  their  flocks  and  herds 
wherever  they  choose,  except  over  the  tilled  fields.  These  are 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

not  separated  from  the  grazing  lands  by  any  fence  or  other  harrier, 
but  are  guarded  during  the  time  of  the  ripening  of  the  crop,  or 
of  the  harvest,  for  the  twofold  purpose  of  securing  the  grain, 
from  the  grazing  cattle,  and  from  the  depredation  of  birds  and 
wild  beasts.  A  rude  scaifold  is  built  for  this  purpose  in  the  cen- 
tre of  the  field,  and  a  temporary  hut  (Isa.  1 :  8)  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  watchman.  This  office  is  generally  performed 
by  a  lad,  the  son  of  the  husbandman,  or  some  one  employed  by 
him  for  the  purpose.  The  wild  beasts  which  prey  on  the  fields 
are,  for  the  most  part,  the  wild  hog,  the  bear,  and  deer.  Those 
which  disturb  the  flocks  and  herds  are,  the  tiger,  the  leopard, 
the  bear,  the  wolf,  the  fox,  and  jackal. 

The  villagers  generally  possess  large  numbers  of  cattle ;  and 
but  for  their  superstitious  notions  of  abstaining  from  the  eating 
of  flesh,  these  cattle  would  be  valuable.  As  it  is,  however,  they 
are  of  very  little  value.  Their  cows  and  goats  yield  but  a  small 
quantity  of  milk ;  the  wool  of  their  sheep  is  extremely  coarse, 
and  of  very  little  account.  Their  oxen  turn  to  good  account,  in 
the  cultivation  of  their  farms,  for  carrying  burdens,  and  for 
riding  and  driving  in  the  carriage.  Those  accustomed  to  the 
latter  services,  trot  over  the  plain  like  horses,  and  are  governed 
by  a  rope  in  the  nose  or  on  the  horns.  Buffaloes  are  used  in 
every  respect  as  bullocks,  or  neat  cattle ;  though  more  common 
than  cows  for  milk,  they  are  less  frequently  used  than  oxen  for 
service.  The  buffalo  is  the  ugliest  animal  in  India.  He  is  of  a  dirty 
brown  color,  high  bones,  and  very  long  horns,  sometimes  pointing 
toward  the  ground,  sometimes  running  nearly  parallel  with  his 
back.  Their  horns  grow  at  random,  without  the  least  form  or  beau- 
ty. The  buffalo  yields  richer  milk  and  more  in  quantity  than  the 
cow.  Still,  the  latter  is  generally  preferred.  Camels  are  much  used 
for  carrying  burdens.  European  travelers  prefer  them  to  any  other 
conveyance.  Natives  ride  them,  European  residents  seldom.  Asses 
are  very  common  about  villages,  where  they  are  employed  to  carry 
bricks,  stone,  dirt,  &c.,  but  are  not  much  used  for  traveling.  They 
are  regarded  as  an  animal  of  very  low  caste,  and  their  employment 
is  similar  to  that  of  the  working  class  of  women.  No  greater  in- 


118  '•        INDIA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE. 

dignity  can  be  put  on  a  Brahmun  than  to  set  him  on  an  ass. 
This  is  sometimes  done  as  a  punishment  for  petty  offenses.  The 
Deckan  abounds  in  horses.  They  are  small,  called  tattoos,  and 
used  chiefly  for  riding  and  carrying  loads.  The  price  of  a 
horse  is  about  ten  dollars.  An  ox  is  worth  six  dollars,  a  cow 
about  four;  a  sheep  or  a  goat  half  or  three  quarters  of  a  dollar. 
The  natives  never  eat  beef,  and  very  few  eat  mutton.  They  live 
principally  on  bread  made  of  a  cheap  grain,  which  they  eat  with 
a  vegetable  curry,  or  with  Chili  peppers.  Half  a  dollar  will 
support  a  man  on  this  fare  for  a  month.  And  their  clothing  is 
proportionably  cheap. 

Except  the  government  road  from  Bombay  to  Ahmednuggur, 
there  are  no  roads  in  this  part  of  the  country  but  foot  paths  or 
bridle  roads,  crooked  and  difficult  to  be  followed.  A  stranger 
cannot  go  from  one  village  to  another  without  a  guide.  While 
the  natives  formerly  expended  enormous  sums,  both  of  public 
money  and  private  munificence,  in  building  and  adorning  tem- 
ples, digging  tanks,  and  constructing  holy  places  on  their  sacred 
streams,  it  never  seems  once  to  have  occurred  to  them  that 
roads  and  bridges  would  be  a  public  benefit,  or  a  private  conven- 
ience. They  traversed  the  country  on  horseback  or  on  foot, 
and  conveyed  the  produce  of  the  country  to. market  on  bullocks. 
These  travel  about  ten  miles  a  day,  in  companies  of  hundreds, 
sometimes  of  thousands.  The  men  who  perform  this  service  are 
called  "  Bringaries,"  or  carriers  of  grain.  This  is  their  profes- 
sion through  life.  They  travel  from  one  part  of  the  country  to 
another  in  large  bodies,  with  their  wives,  children,  dogs,  and  all 
they  possess.  They  carry  grain,  or  other  merchandise,  not  on  their 
own  account,  but  as  agents  for  others.  The  men  go  armed  with 
swords,  shields,  and  matchlocks,  against  robbers ;  and  sometimes, 
if  the  country  be  insecure,  they  employ  a  guard  of  Bheels.  The 
Bringaries  are  employed  to  supply  armies  when  in  the  field  with 
provisions ;  and  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  that  two  contending 
armies  allow  them  to  pass  and  repass  without  molestation, 
though  they  may  be  known  to  be  victualing  the  enemy's  camp. 
They  travel  during  the  day  about  ten  miles,  allowing  their  bul- 


I*     * 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  119 

locks  to  graze  by  the  way.  At  night  they  encamp  in  a  plain, 
unlade  their  bullocks,  form  a  wall  of  defense  on  three  sides,  by 
means  of  the  bags  of  grain,  and  place  their  families,  their  house- 
hold furniture,  and  their  cattle  in  the  centre.  The  latter  are 
arranged  in  a  line,  and  connected  together  by  means  of  ropes  or 
cnains.  Around  the  whole  they  place  their  dogs,  who  give  the 
earliest  notice  of  the  approach  of  intruders ;  and  if  they  be  in  an 
insecure  part  of  the  country,  one  of  the  Bringaries  stands  sentry. 

During  more  than  half  the  year,  the  largest  rivers  in  the 
Deckan — rivers  as  large  as  the  Connecticut  and  Hudson  —  are 
fordable.  On  the  approach  of  rains,  they  are  swollen  and  fill 
their  broad  channels.  They  are  then  crossed  in  boats.  These 
boats,  except  where  the  government  have  provided  them,  are 
frequently  only  such  as  the  traveler  constructs  for  himself  on  the 
spot.  He  takes  a  sleeping  cot,  (native  bedstead,  which  is  strung 
with  broad  tape,)  and  binds  on  a  sufficient  quantity  of  gourd 
shells  to  make  it  buoyant  under  the  weight  to  be  put  on  it ;  or 
the  same  object  is  gained  by  attaching  four  inverted  earthen  ves- 
sels to  the  corners  of  the  cot.  Europeans,  even  ladies,  have  often 
been  obliged  to  cross  large  rivers  on  this  frail  craft. 

The  principal  town  in  the  Deckan  is  Poona.  Ahmednuggur 
is  the  second  place  of  importance.  In  the  next  rank  may  be 
placed  Seroor,  Malagaum,  and  Sholapoor,  which  are  military  sta- 
tions of  the  British  Government ;  Nassic,  which  is  a  missionary 
station  of  the  church  of  England,  and  Junere,  which,  though 
not  the  residence  of  Europeans,  is  the  next  most  desirable  spot 
for  the  establishment  of  a  mission.  One  person  who  shall  oc- 
cupy this  station  should  be  a  physician.  Poona  and  Ahmednug- 
gur excepted,  I  need  say  no  more  of  these  towns,  than  that  they 
are  central  locations,  mostly  situated  on  principal  roads;  and 
they  contain  from  10,000  to  40,000  inhabitants. 

Poona  was  the  capital  of  the  Peshwa  and  of  the  Mahratha 
Empire,  situated  about  thirty  miles  east  of  the  Ghauts,  north 
lat.  18°  30'.  Considered  as  a  capital  of  dominions  so  extensive, 
Poona  was  never  large.  It  did  not  contain,  in  the  days  of  the 
Peshwa,  more  than  about  100,000  inhabitants,  and  its  native 


120  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

population  has  probably  not  increased  since.  Another  singular 
feature  of  Poona  is,  that  it  was  never  fortified  with  a  wall  like 
the  other  towns  and  villages  in  the  Deckan.  It  is  situated  in  an 
open,  defenseless  plain,  two  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  and  at  the  junction  of  the  rivers  Moota  and  Moola.  These 
rivers,  after  their  junction,  form  the  Mootamoola,  which  runs  into 
the  Beema.  This  river  afterwards  forms  a  junction  with  the 
Krishna,  which  falls  into  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  thus  forming,  dur- 
ing the  rainy  season,  a  water  communication  from  within  sev- 
enty-five miles  of  the  western  coast  of  India  to  Madras  or  Cal- 
cutta. Though  not  fortified  by  walls,  or  by  natural  defense, 
Poona  was  still  a  very  convenient  capital.  There  are,  in  the 
vicinity,  several  hill  fortresses,  to  which,  in  case  of  an  attack, 
the  people  fled  with  the  archives  and  the  valuables  of  the  place, 
after  having  set  fire  to  the  city. 

Poona  contains  several  rather  elegant  buildings,  truly  elegant 
after  their  style.  "With  the  European  taste  of  convenience  and 
beauty,  we  regard  the  low  entrance,  the  narrow  flight  of  steps, 
and  the  small  windows,  or  rather  loop-holes,  of  the  palaces  at 
Poona,  as  anything  but  elegant  or  comfortable.  Nor  are  we 
better  pleased  with  gildings  and  gaudy  paintings  on  the  walls. 
Still  we  admire  their  dimensions,  their  architecture,  and  their 
Asiatic  splendor.  Two  or  three  of  these  palaces,  which  were 
built  by  the  last  Peshwa,  and  fancifully  named  after  the  days  of 
the  week,  are  still  standing ;  one  is  now  occupied  for  an  English 
school,  and  another  is  devoted  to  the  purposes  of  government. 
It  is  said  to  have  been  the  original  design  of  the  Peshwa  to  erect 
seven  palaces,  to  be  called  Sunday,  Monday,  &c.  Whether  they 
were  all  to  have  been  in  Poona  is  uncertain.  When  he  was  de- 
throned, he  was  erecting  a  palace  at  Phoolshair,  fifteen  miles  dis- 
tant, which  still  remains  incomplete. 

The  streets  of  Poona,  which  are  narrow,  crooked,  and  badly 
paved,  are  also  fancifully  named  after  mythological  personages, 
adding  the  termination  warree,  (street,)  and  the  members  of  the 
Hindoo  pantheon  are  represented  by  paintings  on  the  exterior 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

of  the  houses.  So  that  as  one  traverses  the  streets,  he  may  read 
the  history  of  the  Brahminical  deities. 

A  complete  and  most  beautiful  view  of  Poona,  with  its  pal- 
aces, its  numerous  temples  pointing  their  unhallowed  spires  to 
heaven,  its  gardens,  orchards  of  mango  trees,  and  plantations,  its 
cantonments,  and  European  settlements,  and  the  extensive  plains 

r*^r  •  •  v   . , 

stretching  on  every  side  to  the  horizon,  and  interrupted  only  by 
a  garden,  a  tope  of  trees,  or  a  little  hillock,  may  be  had  from 
Parwuttee  Hill,  about  a  mile  west  of  the  town.  This  hill  itself 
is  a  most  picturesque,  charming  spot,  rising,  in  the  midst  of  a 
fertile  plain,  to  the  hight  of  a  few  hundred  feet,  and  covered  at 
the  top  with  a  rich  and  elegant  establishment  of  temples,  and 
other  idolatrous  buildings.  These,  when  illuminated  on  certain 
festivals,  afford  the  spectator,  in  the  city,  a  most  brilliant  and 
beautiful  spectacle.  In  descending  from  this  delightful  spot,  by 
a  broad  flight  of  stone  steps,  you  see  at  the  bottom  a  large  square 
field,  inclosed  with  high  brick  walls.  This  is  the  field  in  which 
the  Peshwa  used,  annually,  to  assemble  the  Brahmuns  from  all 
parts  of  the  country,  and  give  them  alms  on  a  certain  feast  day. 
Begging  their  way,  from  all  parts  of  India,  they  came  to  Poona, 
when  they  were  marked  and  shut  into  this  field.  They  were 
then  called  out,  one  at  a  time,  and  the  gratuity  bestowed.  The 
Peshwa  is  said  also  to  have  offered  premiums  to  the  competitors 
for  literary  merit.  An  examination  was  annually  held  at  Par- 
wuttee, when  the  successful  were  rewarded  with  medals,  sums 
of  money,  or  other  prizes,  according  to  their  respective  attain- 
ments. 

There  was  another  annual  assemblage  at  Poona,  near  the  same 
time  with  the  one  above  mentioned,  of  a  more  imposing,  but  of 
a  less  amiable,  character.  I  mean  the  festival  of  the  Dussura 
(doorga  pooga).  On  this  occasion,  the  great  Mahratha  chiefs 
were  in  the  habit  of  assembling  at  Poona,  accompanied  by  pro- 
digious bodies  of  their  followers,  for  the  celebration  of  this  fes- 
tival, preparatory  to  their  predatory  incursions.  Having  propi- 
tiated the  goddess  with  offerings,  and  sacrifices  of  sheep,  and 
consecrated  their  horses,  by  offering  to  each  of  them  a  victim, 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

they  set  out  on  their  plundering  expeditions  in  the  surrounding 
country,  making  little  distinction,  in  their  robberies,  between 
friend  and  foe. 

But  Poona  is  changed.  It  fell  under  the  power  of  British 
arms  in  1817.  One  day  the  banners  of  the  Peshwa  waved  over 
his  palace,  and  the  streets  of  Poona  were  crowded  with  th< 
proudest  and  bravest  army  in  India.  The  next  day  that  army 
was  repulsed  and  scattered ;  the  Peshwa,  a  fugitive  in  his  own 
country,  hunted  from  fortress  to  fortress,  like  a  dog  driven  from 
his  kennel.  The  English  flag  was  waving  over  the  royal  man- 
sion, and  an  English  collector  of  revenue  occupied  the  palace  of 
the  haughty  Bajee  Row.  The  oriental  magnificence  of  his  court 
vanished  in  a  day;  the  native  town  fell  into  comparative  insig- 
nificance, and  the  graceful  turban,  and  the  stately  elephant,  and 
all  the  glittering  trappings  of  Asiatic  grandeur,  gave  place  to  the 
military  cap,  the  hat,  the  horse,  and  the  less  gaudy  equipage  of 
the  European.  All  the  great  functionaries  of  the  former  gov- 
ernment were  reduced  to  the  condition  of  dependents,  or  they 
voluntarily  abandoned  their  country  to  seek  a  better  fortune  else- 
where, or  followed  Bajee  Row  to  his  exile.  The  European  can- 
tonments have  grown  into  a  town,  adorned  with  an  English 
church,  laid  out  in  elegant  streets,  which  are  inclosed  with 
hedges  of  the  milk  bush,  or  the  prickly  pear,  with  English 
houses,  surrounded  with  beautiful  gardens,  which  are  inclosed 
with  hedges,  and  yield  nearly  every  European  vegetable,  and 
every  kind  of  tropical  fruit.  Poona  contains  a  bazaar,  which 
supplies  the  inhabitants  with  every  production  of  the  country, 
and  almost  every  comfort  and  luxury  of  Europe  or  China.  Few 
places  in  India  can  vie  with  Poona  for  the  beauty  of  its  situ- 
ation, or  the  salubrity  of  its  climate. 

It  is  still  the  metropolis  of  the  Deckan.  It  is  preferred  as  a 
residence,  by  learned  Brahmuns  and  rich  natives,  and  is  a  favor- 
ite resort  of  devotees,  and  no  less  a  favorite  resort  for  Euro- 
peans. All  who  can  leave  Bombay  during  the  rainy  season,  take 
up  their  residence  at  Poona.  The  quantity  of  rain  which  falls 
here  is  small,  when  compared  with  that  at  Bombay.  There  if 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  123 

at  Poona  a  Sanskrit  college,  patronized  by  the  government,  but 
wholly  under  the  control  of  the  natives.  Here  Brahmuns  are 
taught  their  ancient  and  sacred  language,  which  few  among  the 
priests  at  this  day  understand. 

1  The  military  force  at  Poona  is  necessarily  considerable.  It 
generally  amounts  to  about  two  regiments  of  European  infantry, 
a  corps  of  horse  artillery,  a  corps  of  engineers,  and  two  or  three 
regiments  of  native  Sepoys.  These  are  all  officered  by  Euro- 
peans. No  native,  whatever  may  be  his  character  as  a  soldier, 
can  hold  a  commission.  The  number  of  European  soldiers  at 
Poona  is  about  2,000,  and  the  whole  number  of  European  gen- 
tlemen, including  officers  and  civilians,  public  functionaries  and 
private  residents,  may  be  200.  There  are  two  chaplains  and  two 
churches,  and  two  Scottish  missionaries,  who,  besides  their  va- 
rious labors  among  the  Hindoos,  preach  regularly  in  English, 
and  have  a  Presbyterian  church  of  a  goodly  number  of  mem- 
bers.* This  is  composed  of  soldiers,  and  such  gentlemen  and 
ladies  as  have  been  educated  in  the  Scottish  church,  or  from 
preference  have  since  joined  it. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Ahmednuggur  taken  by  the  English  —  Its  ancient  grandeur  —  Present  condition  — 
Ruins  —  Fortifications  in  the  Deckan  —  Hill  Forts  —  Excavated  Temples  —  Moral 
condition  of  the  People  —  Missionary  field. 


shall  introduce  the  reader  to  the  city  of  Ahmednuggur, 
not  on  account  of  its  own  importance,  but  because  it  was  the 
more  immediate  scene  of  the  writer's  observations  and  labors, 
and  because  it  affords  a  good  specimen  of  an  internal  city  of  In- 
dia, and  is  the  centre  of  an  extensive  and  successful  field  of  mis- 
sionary operations  by  the  American  Board. 

*  The  mission  has  since  been  reduced  to  one  member. 


124  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

Ahmednuggur  is  a  town  eighty-three  miles  northeast  of 
Poona.  It  was  built  by  Ahmed  Nizam  Shah,  from  whom  it  has 
its  name,  in  1493.  He  made  it  the  capital  of  an  independent 
state  of  the  same  name.  This  dynasty  continued  till  the  year 
1600,  when,  in  the  events  of  revolution,  it  became  a  province  of 
the  Mogul  Empire,  in  the  reign  of  the  renowned  Emperor  Acbur. 
It  continued  under  the  government  of  the  sovereigns  of  Delhi, 
till  the  death  of  Aurungzebe,  in  1707,  when  it  was  seized  on  by 
the  Mahrathas,  and  made  a  part  of  the  Peshwa's  dominions,  till 
1797,  when  he  was  forced  to  cede  it  to  the  Dowlet  Row  Sindia, 
who,  in  his  turn,  was  forced  to  yield  it  to  the  superior  claim  of 
the  British  bayonet,  in  1803.  The  city  was  taken  by  General 
"Wellesley,  the  late  Duke  of  Wellington.  The  fort  has  ever  since 
been  retained  by  the  English.  The  city,  however,  was  ceded  to 
the  Peshwa  in  the  following  year,  who  seems  to  have  possessed  it 
till  the  overthrow  of  his  empire  by  the  English,  in  1817.  Since 
that  period  it  has  remained  a  part  of  the  dominion  of  the  Honor- 
able Company,  and  an  important  military  and  civil  station.  From 
its  central  position  in  the  Deckan,  and  its  proximity  to  the  terri- 
tories of  the  Nizam  of  Hydrabad,  on  the  east,  it  is  a  place  of 
great  importance  in  the  defense  of  the  country.  It  has  no  natu- 
ral fortifications,  nor  is  there  any  hill  fortress  in  the  vicinity ;  its 
fort,  half  a  mile  from  the  town,  is  a  place  of  great  strength,  and 
capable  of  sustaining  a  long  siege.  The  town  is  situated  in  an 
open  plain,  which  forms,  with  circular  ranges  of  hills,  an  amphi- 
theatre of  about  fifteen  miles  in  diameter. 

The  population,  wealth  and  appearance  of  Ahmednuggur  has, 
within  these  few  years,  considerably  increased.  This  has  been 
chiefly  owing  to  the  great  accession  of  merchants,  artisans  and 
laborers,  who  have  been  drawn  thither  on  account  of  the  military 
force,  and  the  civil  corps,  which  have  been  stationed  there.  The 
native  population  is  estimated  at  50,000 ;  and  the  number  of  Eu- 
ropeans, including  about  800  soldiers,  is  between  900  and  1,000. 
No  European  (with  two  or  three  exceptions)  lives  within  the 
wall  of  the  town.  Their  houses,  surrounded  for  the  most  part  by 
beautiful  gardens,  are  scattered  about  the  environs  of  the  town, 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  125 

some  to  the  distance  of  three  miles,  and  generally  situated  on 
rising  grounds,  for  the  benefit  of  a  cool  and  pure  air.  Carriage 
roads  have  been  constructed  from  the  fort,  in  which  stands  the 
church,  to  the  dwelling  of  nearly  every  European.  The  roads, 
bridges,  barracks,  hospitals,  mess-houses,  English  dwellings,  and 
every  work  of  foreign  artifice,  which  has,  within  these  few  years, 
been  constructed  by  the  English,  form  a  singular  contrast  with 
the  native  huts  of  the  poor,  or  the  massy,  expensive  and  uncom- 
fortable houses  of  the  more  wealthy.  These  are  improvements 
which  have  added  much  to  the  importance  of  the  place.  Still, 
Ahmednuggur  is  far,  very  far,  inferior  in  point  of  wealth  and 
grandeur  to  what  she  was  in  the  days  of  her  Mohammedan  mas- 
ters. Nearly  a  century  and  a  half  has  now  elapsed  since  those 
mighty  conquerors  possessed  the  city,  and  to  this  day,  almost 
every  rod  of  ground  bears  some  testimony  to  the  grandeur  of 
their  dynasty.  Palaces,  mosques,  tombs,  gardens,  aqueducts, 
tanks,  public  buildings,  and  private  buildings,  of  great  magnifi- 
cence, are  every  where  to  be  seen,  both  in  the  city  and  for  seve- 
ral miles  on  either  side ;  some  in  perfect  repair,  some  in  ruins, 
and  others  falling  to  decay ;  but  all  indicate  a  state  of  grandeur 
and  wealth  which  is  no  where  to  be  seen  at  the  present  day.  The 
most  perfect  specimens  of  the  remains  are  the  mosques  and  the 
tombs.  Some  of  these  are  as  entire  as  if  they  were  but  of  yes- 
terday. There  are  two  relics  of  Moslem  grandeur,  which,  in  par- 
ticular, demand  the  attention  of  the  traveler.  The  one  is  the 
Palace  at  Fariah  Bhag,  three  miles  from  town ;  and  the  other 
Salabat  Khan's  Tomb,  six  miles  distant,  and  on  the  summit  of 
the  highest  hill  in  the  neighborhood. 

The  palace,  which  is  an  octagon  of  immense  dimensions, 
stands  on  an  artificial  island,  in  the  centre  of  a  beautiful 
irtificial  lake  of  some  acres.  The  lake,  again,  is  in  the 
centre  of  a  large  garden,  which  contains  three  or  four  hun- 
dred acres  of  excellent  land,  and  appears,  from  the  numerous 
fruit  and  flower  trees  still  remaining,  to  have  been  an  Eden,  in 
which  the  eye  was  regaled  and  the  taste  gratified  with  all  the 
beauty  and  luxury  of  the  East.  An  artificial  rivulet,  fed  from  a 


126  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

river  at  some  miles  distant,  watered  the  garden  and  supplied 
the  lake  ;  and  fountains  were  playing  at  different  distances  from 
the  gate  of  the  garden  to  the  palace,  and  others  in  front  of 
the  principal  entrance  to  it.  By  whom  this  noble  pile  was  built, 
at  what  period,  or  to  what'  purpose  it  was  devoted,  does  not  ap- 
pear. The  whole  central  part  of  the  edifice  is  a  rotundo,  termin- 
ating in  a  vast  dbme,  a  little  higher  than  the  common  roof,  which 
is  flat,  and  forms  a  promenade.  On  the  four  principal  sides,  in 
the  second  story,  there  are  four  inclosed  rooms,  about  forty  feet  by 
twenty.  The  remainder  of  the  building  consists  of  open  apart- 
ments, which  look  toward  the  garden,  in  every  direction,  through 
arches.  There  was  originally  neither  bridge  nor  causeway  to  the 
palace.  The  only  communication  was  by  water.  The  present 
causeway  is  of  recent  construction.  The  rivulet  still  feeds  the 
lake,  and  the  garden  is  still  a  fertile  field.  The  palace  and  farm, 
as  it  is  now  called,  is  rented  by  government  as  a  place  for  rear- 
ing silk-worms  and  the  manufacture  of  silk. 

The  Tomb  of  Salabat  Khan  is  likewise  an  octagon,  and  a  huge 
pile  of  masonry.  Above  the  basement,  in  which  repose  the 
ashes  of  the  Khan,  and  of  some  of  his  family,  the  structure  is 
three  stories  high,  and  each  story,  I  should  judge,  thirty  feet. 
The  centre,  like  that  of  the  palace,  is  one  immense  arch,  extend- 
ing quite  to  the  top  of  the  edifice,  and  the  spaces  between  this 
arch,  or  rotundo,  and  the  outer  wall,  form,  in  reference  to  the 
former,  three  galleries,  one  above  another.  The  whole,  though 
apparently  unfinished,  is  a  work  of  great  labor  and  expense,  and 
remains  a  very  striking  monument  of  human  pride  and  folly. 

Ahmednuggur  is  surrounded  by  a  wall  about  fifteen  feet  high, 
constructed  partly  of  stone  and  partly  of  sun-dried  bricks,  and  is 
entered  by  eight  gates,  which  are  closed  of  a  night  and  kept  by 
Sepoys.  The  town,  like  most  of  the  villages  and  towns  in  the 
Deckan,  presents  a  most  dismal  appearance  to  the  stranger.  The 
streets,  for  the  most  part,  are  narrow,  crooked  and  dirty ;  and 
the  houses  low,  flat-roofed,  and  covered  with  earth.  Grass  may 
be  seen  growing  on  their  roofs,  and  the  sluggish  ass  grazing 
there,  or  the  roguish  goat  leaping  from  roof  to  roof  in  search  of 


. 

INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  127 

the  best  pasture.  The  Mohammedans  bear  a  much  greater  pro- 
portion to  the  Hindoo  population  than  is  usual  in  India.  There 
still  remain  here  a  few  families  of  high  birth,  who  hold  a  part  of 
the  estates  of  their  forefathers ;  but  in  general  they  are  reduced 
to  poverty  and  degradation.  I  know  hot  how  they  restrain  their 
indignation,  when  they  witness  the  desecration  of  the  tombs,  the 
temples  and  the  dwellings  of  their  fathers.  Many  of  these  are 
fitted  up  as  dwellings  for  Europeans.  Christians,  whom  they 
affect  to  despise,  proudly  and  thoughtlessly  trample  on  the  graves 
of  their  fathers.  Others  are  converted  into  stables,  shops,  offices, 
prisons,  hospitals  and  manufactories.  Even  the  more  humble 
monuments  in  their  common  burying-places  have  been  leveled  to 
the  ground,  for  the  sake  of  the  stones,  to  be  used  in  the  erection 
of  houses  for  Europeans.  Their  glory  has  departed.  Ichabod  is 
written  on  every  thing  which  once  showed  how  great  and  how 
proud  the  Moslems  were. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  natural  fortifications  of  the  Deckan. 
These  are  too  remarkable  to  be  passed  unnoticed.  The  Deckan 
may  properly  be  called  one  immense  plain.  But  it  is  not  unfre- 
quently  diversified  by  beautiful  rising  grounds,  varying  in  hight . 
and  size,  from  the  little  graceful  hillock  to  the  mountain  of  seve- 
ral hundred  feet.  Most  of  these  have  a  smooth  table-land  on 
their  summits,  and  the  larger  ones  are  encircled  with  a  belt  of 
rock  just  below  their  tops.  This  rock  is,  by  nature,  scarped 
nearly  perpendicularly,  so  as  to  render  the  ascent  generally  im- 
passable, except  by  artificial  means.  The  warlike  Mahrathas  did 
not  lose  sight  of  this  mode  of  defense  to  their  country.  Winding 
or  zigzag  roads  are  formed  on  the  surface  of  the  hill,  by  which 
the  ascent  is  comparatively  easy,  as  far  as  the  rocky  belt.  A 
pass  is  then  cut  through  the  rock,  by  which  men,  and  sometimes 
horses,  could  ascend  by  flights  of  steps  to  the  summit.  Some- 
times this  passage  is  subterraneous,  as  at  Dawlatabad ;  in  which 
case,  the  strength  of  the  fort  is  considerably  increased.  If  the 
rock,  in  any  place,  be  defective,  the  breach  is  supplied  by  a  wall. 
A  garrison  is  posted  on  the  top,  and  batteries  planted  on  the  walls. 

As  a  description  of  one  of  these  fortifications  is,  with  a  few 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

exceptions,  a  description  of  the  whole,  I  shall  only  speak  of  one 
which  I  have  ascended  and  minutely  observed.  This  is  in  the 
vicinity  of  Junere,  forty  miles  to  the  north  of  the  city  of  Poona. 
There  is  but  one  path  which  leads  to  the  summit,  and  this  winds 
nearly  half  way  around  the  surface  of  the  hill,  before  reaching 
the  encircling  rock,  and  is  so  narrow  that  two  men  can  scarcely 
walk  abreast.  Almost  every  foot  of  this  path  is  exposed  to  the 
unobstructed  fire  of  the  battery  above.  We  were  not  convinced 
of  the  great  strength  of  the  place  till  we  arrived  at  the  gate  near 
the  commencement  of  the  rocky  belt  which  forms  the  chief  de- 
fense of  the  fort.  As  the  huge  gate,  set  with  great  iron  spikes, 
or  covered  with  thick  sheets  of  iron,  grated  on  its  rusty  hinges, 
one  was  reminded  of  Milton's  description  of  the  infernal  gate. 
We  then  began  to  ascend  the  steps,  and  passed  successively 
through  five  similar  gates,  all  of  which  seem  to  bid  defiance 
against  any  power  which  can  be  brought  to  act  against  them  in 
their  peculiar  situation.  Nothing  but  the  well-directed  shells  of 
the  English  could  ever  have  caused  a  garrison  here  to  surrender. 
On  the  top  are  decaying  barracks,  houses,  magazines,  and  reser- 
voirs of  excellent  water.  Nearly  all  these  forts  are  in  the  hands 
of  the  English,  but  very  few  of  them  are  garrisoned. 

The  excavated  temples  of  this  part  of  the  country  are,  per- 
haps, still  greater  objects  of  curiosity  to  the  common  traveler 
than  the  hill  forts.  They  are  very  numerous.  The  principal 
ones  are  at  Carlee,  Junere  and  Ellora.  The  latter  are  the  most 
magnificent,  and  are  said  to  be  unrivaled  by  any  human  work  on 
the  face  of  the  earth,  the  pyramids  of  Egypt  not  excepted.  Some 
of  these  are  more  than  a  hundred  feet  in  length,  by  fifty  broad, 
and  three  stories  high.  As  I  cannot  describe  the  whole,  for  they 
are  very  numerous,  and  of  a  great  variety  of  forms  and  dimen- 
sions, I  will  endeavor  to  give  some  idea  of  one  here  called  Key- 
las.  This,  though  superior  to  the  others,  does  not,  in  its  general 
features,  greatly  differ  from  them,  except  that  it  is  a  temple  exter- 
nally, as  well  as  internally.  That  is,  after  the  temple  was  exca- 
vated, with  doors,  porticoes,  altars  and  images,  and  the  whole 
internal  part  complete,  the  portion  of  the  mountain  above  it  was 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  129 

removed,  so  as  to  form  a  temple  externally,  with  dome,  spire  and 
court-yard;  and  the  whole  one  entire  piece,  and  of  the  same 
rock,  every  part  remaining  unmoved,  as  nature  created  the 
mountain.  The  first  object  in  excavating  these  temples  was,  to 
select  the  side  of  a  hill  where  was  a  solid  rock,  without  rent  or 
fissure.  It  was  then  scarped  down  till  there  remained  a  perpen- 
dicular side  to  the  rock  high  enough  for  the  gate-way.  Then 
proceeded  the  work  of  excavation  from  the  top  of  the  intended 
room  downwards,  leaving  portions  of  the  rock  for  pillars  of  sup- 
port to  the  roof,  for  idols,  and  any  purpose  as  required.  The 
pillars  are  carved  and  ornamented  with  figures  of  men,  beasts 
and  fictitious  animals.  Figures  of  every  description,  and  some  of 
them  shockingly  obscene,  are  carved  on  the  walls.  But  it  is  not 
my  object  here  to  describe  the  caves,  but  only  to  tell  you  that 
they  exist  in  the  Deckan. 

I  have  said  that  the  physical  aspect  of  the  Deckan  is  bleak  and 
barren.  "Would  to  God  that  its  moral  aspect  were  not  more  so. 
Here  are  temples,  priests,  holy  places,  altars,  sacrifices,  holy  days, 
gods  many  and  lords  many ;  but  no  temple  is  here  reared  to  the 
worship  of  Jehovah ;  no  priest,  as  a  good  shepherd,  brings  the 
wandering  sheep  into  the  fold;  no  place  is  sacred  to  the  praises 
of  the  Most  High ;  no  sacrifice  is  made  to  the  only  living  and 
true  God ;  no  day  is  hailed  as  a  welcome  cessation  from  labor, 
and  a  day  of  holy  rest,  when  the  soul  may  find  repose  on  the 
precious  promises  of  God's  word.  From  the  cradle  to  the  grave, 
generations  after  generations  of  this  wretched  people  worship 
they  know  not  what,  and  believe  they  know  not  why. 

But,  blessed  be  God,  there  now  appears  a  redeeming  spirit  for 
this  deluded  race.  It  is  not  yet  fifteen  years  since  missionaries 
were  prohibited  from  entering  the  Deckan^  An  attempt  was 
made  about  that  time  to  distribute  books  and  tracts  in  Poona 
and  its  vicinity.  Two  natives,  one  a  Jew,  were  dispatched  for 
that  purpose.  They  came  to  the  city  of  Poona,  and  there  com- 
menced their  work.  The  Brahmuns  no  sooner  ascertained  the 
nature  of  their  embassy,  and  the  character  of  their  books,  than 

they  preferred  complaints  against  them  to  the  English  Collector, 
9 


130  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

the  chief  magistrate  of  the  city.  He  ardently  espoused  the  cause 
of  the  Brahmuns,  seized  the  books,  and  imprisoned  the  mission- 
aries. It  is  said  that  he  indulged,  in  the  presence  of  the  natives, 
in  bitter  imprecations  against  the  missionaries  in  Bombay,  who 
were  the  agents  in  this  affair;  and  told  the  people  that  they  were 
abused  by  this  attempt  against  their  religion,  and  assured  them 
that  they  should  have  redress.  The  books  were  indignantly 
kicked  about  the  streets,  and  finally  sent  back  to  Bombay,  with 
the  two  assistant  missionaries,  under  a  guard  of  soldiers.  The 
whole  was  done,  no  doubt,  under  the  pretense  of  non-interference 
with  the  religion  of  these  newly  acquired  subjects,  and  from  an 
apprehension  of  a  revolt,  if  any  attempts  to  introduce  Christian- 
ity should  be  allowed.  The  policg  of  government  might,  at  that 
time,  seem  to  require  this  precaution.  But  where  is  the  Christian 
principle  which  allows  a  Christian  nation  to  conquer  and  to  hold 
possession  of  an  idolatrous  nation  on  terms  like  these?  The 
Great  Judge  and  Disposer  of  nations  will  vindicate  or  condemn. 
He  is  not  an  idle  spectator  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Four  or  five  years  elapsed  before  any  further  attempts  seem  to 
have  been  made  to  introduce  the  gospel  at  Poona.  An  attempt 
was  then  made  by  the  Scottish  mission.  Two  of  their  number 
made  a  preaching  tour  as  far  as  Poona.  They  preached  in  the 
streets,  distributed  tracts,  and  held  public  discussions.  Com- 
plaints against  them  were  brought  to  the  Collector,  the  gentle- 
man above  named.  He  had  not  been  sustained  by  the  Bombay 
Government  in  the  violent  measures  he  had  pursued  in  the  for- 
mer instance,  and  he  now  saw  fit  to  adopt  a  more  lenient 
course.  He  inquired  of  the  complainants  what  the  mission- 
aries did,  that  rendered  them  so  offensive  —  if  they  resorted 
to  any  violence,  o»  used  any  compulsion  in  their  attempts  to 
propagate  Christianity  ?  They  answered  no ;  but  that  they  talked 
and  argued  continually  against  Hindooism  and  in  favor  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  distributed  books.  AY  ell,  said  the  magistrate,  I  will 
allow  you  the  same  privilege.  Go  talk,  and  argue,  and  overthrow 
their  religion,  if  you  can. 

Since  that  period,  the  apprehensions  of  the  government  have 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  131 

been  greatly  allayed ;  and  the  missionaries  have  been  allowed  to 
traverse  the  country  in  any  direction  they  choose.  Missionary 
stations  have  since  been  formed  at  Poona,  Ahmednugger,  and 
Nassic ;  and  tours  for  preaching  the  gospel,  and  the  distributing 
of  tracts  and  books,  have  been  made  from  Candish  to  Goa,  from 
the  Ghauts  to  Jalna  and  Sholapoor.  These,  however,  are  but 
scoutings  and  skirmishings  in  an  enemy's  country.  Only  a  small 
part  of  the  towns  and  villages  have  been  so  much  as  once  visited 
by  a  missionary ;  and  probably  not  a  fourth  part  of  the  popula- 
tion where  the  missionaries  reside  has  even  heard  of  the  doc- 
trines of  the  cross.  It  is  better  to  consider  here  what  remains  to 
be  dojie,  than  what  has  been  done. 

We  will  make  Ahmednuggur  the  point  from  which,  as  a  cen- 
tre, we  will  look  abroad  over  the  spiritual  waste  of  the  Mahratha 
country.  On  every  side  appears  a  vast  moral  desert.  Looking 
westward,  we  see  a  single  missionary  station  at  Poona,  eighty- 
three  miles  distant.  Here  there  is  one  Scottish  missionary.  To 
the  northeast,  there  is  the  station  at  lassie,  100  miles,  and  two 
missionaries  of  the  church  of  England.  Casting  the  eye  to  the 
north,  it  meets  not  with  a  cheering  spot  till  it  stretches  beyond 
the  confines  of  India,  and  not  then,  unless  the  station  at  Mongo- 
lia should  fall  in  the  range.  Bearing  to  the  northeast,  we  find 
missionaries  at  Delhi,  830  miles ;  at  Agra,  750 ;  at  Allahabad, 
500 ;  and  Benares,  550  miles.  To  the  east,  there  is  not  a  mission- 
ary this  side  of  the  Bengal  Presidency.  At  Nagpoor,  300  miles, 
there  is  a  single  chaplain,  but  not  a  missionary  till  we  reach  Or- 
issa.  To  the  southeast,  there  are  no  preachers  of  the  gospel  this 
side  of  Hydrabad.  A  chaplain  resides  there,  but  no  missionary. 
At  the  south,  we  find  the  first  missionaries  at  Belgaum,  300  miles. 
Taking  the  above  named  places  as  limits,  the  area  included  can 
be  scarcely  less  than  800  miles  by  1000  square ;  and  contains  a 
population  probably  of  40,000,000 ;  one-fourth  of  whom  speak 
the  Mahratha  language. 

Such  is  the  extent  of  the  unevangelized  regions  in  the  interior 
of  India,  and  for  the  most  part  comprised  within  the  limits  of  the 
Deckan.  And  it  should  not  be  overlooked,  that  many  of  the 


132  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

places  named  above  as  limits  may  again  be  regarded  as  centres, 
having  about  them  as  wide  an  extent  of  unevangelized  country 
as  Ahmednuggur.  Of  the  thousands  of  towns  and  villages  com- 
prehended in  this  region  of  country,  by  far  the  greater  number 
lias  never  yet  been  visited  by  a  Christian  missionary.  Previous 
to  the  establishment  of  the  American  mission  at  Ahmednuggur, 
in  December,  1831,  members  of  the  Scottish  mission  had,  in  two  in- 
stances, made  preaching  tours  as  far  east  as  that  city.  The  gospel 
has  now  for  more  than  four  years  been  preached  daily  at  Ah- 
mednuggur, and  great  quantities  of  tracts,  books,  and  portions 
of  the  Scriptures  have  been  distributed  both  in  the  city  and 
through  the  adjacent  country.  More  than  a  hundred  and  fifty 
villages  in  the  Ahmednuggur  district  have  been  visited  by  Chris- 
tian missionaries;  three  tours  have  been  made  into  the  domin- 
ions of  the  Nizam  of  Hydrabad,  as  far  east  as  Jalna ;  and  other 
tours  have  been  made  to  the  west  and  to  the  south  through  the 
Poona  district,  and  also  through  the  territory  of  the  Raja  of  Sattara. 
When  we  consider  how  many  villages  there  are  in  the  Deckan, 
which  have  never  yet  received  a  single  visit  from  a  missionary, 
and  how  few  of  the  inhabitants  of  those  which  have  been  visited, 
not  more  probably  than  one-tenth,  sometimes  not  a  hundredth, 
ever  come  near  a  missionary  to  hear  his  message,  we  shall  again 
exclaim,  "  Surely  darkness  covers  that  land,  and  gross  darkness 
the  people." 

If  the  heart  of  the  Christian  sickens  when  he  contemplates  the 
general  fact  that  so  vast  a  population  is,  in  the  19th  century,  still 
enveloped  in  the  accumulated  darkness  of  ages,  and,  for  the  most 
part,  without  the  means  of  being  enlightened,  how  much  more 
must  his  sympathies  be  enlisted,  when  he  looks  more  minutely 
into  their  moral  condition,  when  he  contemplates  the  bondage  of 
superstition,  the  abominations,  the  cruelties,  and  the  general 
wretchedness  which  idolatry  has,  from  generation  to  generation, 
entailed  on  this  mighty  mass  of  human  beings.  The  debt  which 
the  church  of  Christ  owes  to  these  forty  millions  is  no  less  imperious 
because  the  sufferers  do  not  themselves  present  their  claims. 
The  starving,  diseased  beggar  may  not  be  able  to  plead  his  < 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  183 

before  you  in  person.  But  who  will  say  that  he,  on  this  account, 
has  no  claims  on  your  charity,  no  demands  on  your  humanity? 
Such  is  the  nature  of  the  claims  of  the  heathen.  Their  cry  for 
help  is  heard  in  the  sad  tale  of  their  miseries.  Their  appeal  to 
your  compassion  comes  in  the  disgusting  story  of  their  abomina- 
tions. 

The  simple  fact  that  this  extensive  inland  country  has,  within 
these  few  years,  been  thrown  open  to  the  labors  of  missionaries, 
ought  doubtless  to  be  regarded  as  a  divine  intimation  that  the 
long  night  of  death,  which  has  for  centuries  brooded  over  this 
land,  is  now  about  to  disappear,  and  the  Sun  of  Righteousness 
ere  long  is  to  arise,  and  to  make  this  "  region  and  shadow  of 
death"  as  a  city  that  needeth  not  the  light,  because  the  Lord 
God  is  the  light  thereof.  It  ought  to  speak  with  a  voice  that 
shall  thrill  the  heart  of  every  Christian. 

I  have  said  the  whole  Mahratha  country,  and  perhaps  I 
may  say  the  whole  of  India,  is  laid  open  to  missionary  labors. 
Missionaries,  however,  would  not  be  allowed  to  reside  in  every 
part  of  the  country.  They  may  travel,  preach,  and  distribute 
books  any  where,  if  they  have  English  protection ;  and  they  may 
settle  in  any  part  of  the  Company's  possessions,  with  the  per- 
mission of  government,  which  is  almost  certain  to  be  obtained. 
In  this  the  native  inhabitants  of  the  place  have  no  voice.  They 
may  neither  encourage  nor  wish  the  missionaries  to  settle  among 
them.  If  the  government  permit,  there  is  no  one  who  can  pre- 
vent it.  In  this  way  missionaries  may  settle  any  where  in  the 
Mahratha  country,  with  the  same  prospect  of  success  as  is  expe- 
rienced, or  is  anticipated,  at  Poona  or  Ahmednuggur.  They 
have  no  obstacles  to  fear  but  such  as  arise  from  the  stupidity  and 
prejudices  of  the  natives,  and  from  their  aversion  to  hear  the 
truths  of  the  gospel.  It  is  doubtful,  in  my  opinion,  whether  this 
field  will  be  open  in  any  other  sense,  until  it  shall  be  occupied  as 
it  now  is.  There  can,  properly  speaking,  be  no  demand  for  the 
gospel,  in  any  better  sense  of  the  term,  till  it  shall  be  known, 
embraced,  and  appreciated.  Should  the  door,  which,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  is  now  open  to  the  interior  of  the  penin- 


134  INDIA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE. 

sula,  not  be  entered,  we  know  not  how  soon  it  may  be  closed; 
and  years  may  roll  away,  and  other  countless  millions  sink  to 
perdition,  before  the  same  door  shall  be  opened  again.  Whether 
missions  in  this  part  of  the  country  'would  be  attended  with  any 
more  visible  success  than  has  been  experienced  in  other  parts  of 
"Western  India,  does  not  affect  the  question  of  our  duty,  nor  is  it 
needful  for  us  to  know.  This  is  only  known,  and  can  only  be 
affected  by  Him  who  gives  efficacy  to  means.  That  the  gospel 
should  be  preached  to  every  creature,  is  a  simple  command,  binding 
on  us.  "We  must  stand  or  fall  in  the  judgment  of  our  Divine 
Master,  not  according  to  the  conversion  of  every  nation,  but  ac- 
cording to  our  efforts  to  evangelize  every  nation.  Hence,  it  may 
be  urged,  that  guilt  attaches  itself  to  the  Christian  world,  and  to 
every  individual  Christian,  if  every  field  is  not  occupied  as  soon 
as,  by  the  providence  of  God,  it  is  laid  open. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Brahmunism,  illustrated  in  the  Life  and  Character  of  Babajee  —  Early  life  of  Ba- 
bajee — His  connection  with  Missionaries  —  His  conversion — Renunciation  of 
Caste — Force  of  habit  —  Obstacles  to  Hindoos'  Conversion. 

"WE  are  here  very  naturally  led  to  inquire  what  Brahmunism, 
the  prevailing  religion  of  that  country,  is  ?  It  were  palpable  in- 
justice to  our  sketch  not  to  answer  such  a  question.  For  the 
country  does  not  afford  a  subject  of  more  solemn  interest — a 
question  of  more  practical  importance  to  the  philanthropist  and 
Christian.  The  inquiring  reader  will  therefore  desire  to  know 
what  this  colossal  system  is ;  what  power  it  exercises  over  the 
minds  of  the  people ;  what  obstacles  it  presents  to  the  spread  of 
the  Gospel;  what  kind  of  personage  a  Brahmun  is;  what 
control  he  holds  over  the  popular  mind ;  what  he  is  by  nature, 
and  what  he  may  and  has  become  by  Divine  grace.  That  I 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  135 

may  answer  such  questions,  and  many  others  calculated  to  intro- 
duce the  reader  at  once  mto  the  penetralia  of  Brahmunism,  I 
shall  here  introduce  a  somewhat  extended  account  of  the  Brah- 
mun  Babajee.  The  memoir  itself  is  believed  to  be  of  sufficient 
interest  to  warrant  its  introduction.  It  is  here  designed,  how- 
ever, only  to  furnish  an  extended  illustration  of  several  points, 
immensly  interesting,  at  least  to  all  such  as  are  looking  to  that 
great  and  ancient  country  with  the  eye  of  a  Christian,  a  philan- 
thropist, a  historian  or  a  philosopher.  And  perhaps  we  can  in 
no  other  way  summon  to  our  aid  a  happier  illustration  of  the 
power  of  Divine  grace  than  in  the  conversion  and  subsequent 
Christian  character  of  this  same  Brahmun. 

Brahmunism  is  perhaps  as  complete  a  consummation  of  priest- 
craft as  the  world  affords.  It  very  appropriately  takes  its  name 
from  the  Brahmun  or  priest.  Though  they  still  exalt  them- 
selves above  every  other  caste  of  men,  not  excepting  kings  and 
princes,  the  extraordinary  pretensions  of  the  Brahmuns  of  the 
present  day,  their  arrogance  and  subtlety,  their  avarice,  duplicity 
and  selfishness,  their  pretended  learning  and  real  ignorance,  are 
but  the  shadows  of  the  claims  put  forth  by  the  priesthood,  under 
whose  auspices  was  inflicted  on  India  the  present  system  of 
Brahmunism.  This  system  is  but  a  stupendous  monument  of 
what  the  genius  of  man  is  capable  of  affecting,  when  left  to  the 
guidance  of  unassisted  reason.  Here  the  rationalist  and  infidel 
may  gaze  and  admire  what  the  human  mind  can  do  without  the 
aid  of  Divine  Revelation.  This  great  Babylon  is  the  legitimate 
product  of  human  skill. 

Hindooism,  from  the  foundation  to  the  top-stone,  is  one  cold 
system  of  selfishness.  The  ultimate  object  of  all  is  the  aggran- 
dizement of  the  priesthood ;  and  the  grand  means  by  which  this 
is  accomplished,  is  the  mental  thraldom  of  the  people.  Their 
sacred  books,  which  contain  the  details  of  this  astonishing  sys- 
tem of  imposture,  and  which  have  been  written  with  consum- 
mate ingenuity  and  diabolical  skill,  are  locked  up  in  a  language 
unknown  and  forbidden  to  the  people,  and  may  only  be  read  and 
explained  by  the  Brahmuns.  All  the  learning  of  the  nation  is 


136  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

monopolized  by  these  same  priests  ^  and  the  other  castes  are 
either  prohibited,  or,  as  for  as  possible,  prevented,  from  aspiring 
to  the  "  dangerous  pre-eminence  "  of  learning.  Custom  and  caste 
and  superstition  have  been  made,  by  the  subtle  priests,  to  con- 
join in  discouraging  all  attempts,  which  the  common  people 
might  be  disposed  to  make,  to  disenthral  themselves  from  their 
hereditary  ignorance.  And  the  usages  of  caste,  again,  as  well 
as  prejudice,  prevent  the  Hindoos  from  traveling;  and  conse- 
quently cut  them  off  from  all  the  advantages  which  they  might 
otherwise  gain  by  visiting  foreign  nations,  and  comparing  other 
institutions  with  their  own. 

And  nothing,  perhaps,  tends  more  to  perpetuate  the  mental 
bondage  of  the  Hindoos,  than  the  ignorance,  and  the  consequent 
degradation,  which  Brahmunism  has  entailed  on  the  female  sex. 
We  very  justly  attribute  to  the  female  part  of  our  community 
a  great  share  of  the  mental  exaltation,  the  refinement,  and  the 
active  benevolence  which  bless  our  society.  But  in  India  wo- 
man is  nothing.  She  exerts  no  influence  on  society,  nor  can  she 
ever  exert  any  under  the  present  state  of  things.  A  long  and 
continued  degradation  has  rendered  the  Hindoo  woman  unquali- 
fied to  share  in  the  intercourse  of  the  other  sex ;  and  iron-hand- 
ed prejudice  forbids  her  to  become  qualified.  A  sad  experience 
has  so  long  taught  her  that  she  is  inferior,  and,  by  nature,  de- 
graded, that  she  now  seems  fully  to  believe  that  she  is  so,  and 
submits,  without  a  murmur,  to  be  treated  as  a  being  of  an  in- 
ferior species. 

These  things,  without  mentioning  innumerable  other  instances 
which  might  be  adduced  as  reasons  for  the  mental  degradation 
of  the  Hindoos,  exert  a  powerful  influence  to  bring  all  things  in 
subserviency  to  the  Brahmuns.  The  more  the  religious  system 
of  this  people  is  examined,  the  more  the  conviction  will  force 
itself  on  us  that  the  aggrandizement,  and  the  pecuniary  advan- 
tage of  the  priesthood,  are  the  ultimate  objects  of  the  whole. 
These  sentiments  are  every  where  taught  in  their  sacred  books, 
and  constitute  a  principal  part  of  the  Brahmuns'  instructions. 

In  their  domestic  and  social  relations,  nothing  can  be  done 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  137 

without  a  Brahmun.  ]STo  one  else  can  determine  on  lucky  and 
unlucky  days,  of  which  they  have  an  endless  number,  or  explain 
signs,  omens,  visions  and  dreams.  No  one  but  a  Brahmun  may 
read  and  explain  the  sacred  books,  or  even  touch  them.  Kor 
may  any  other  person  officiate  in  their  myriads  of  rites  and 
ceremonies  which  make  up  their  religion.  All  offerings  to  the 
gods  are  appropriated  by  these  priests  —  giving  to  the  Brah- 
muns  is  the  most  effectual  way  of  propitiating  the  gods  and  pro- 
curing the  pardon  of  sin.  Penances  and  pilgrimages  are  enjoin- 
ed ;  but  the  most  severe  penance  may  be  commuted  for  a  pre- 
sent to  the  Brahmun ;  and  the  chief  end  of  a  pilgrimage  is,  in 
the  mind  of  the  priest,  the  advantage  to  the  idle  Brahmuns 
who  officiate  at  the  holy  place.  tfitol 

The  Brahmun  is  revered  as  a  god,  the  people  fall  down  before 
him,  make  him  offerings,  and  lick  the  very  dust  of  his  feet. 
They  believe  the  Brahmun,  on  account  of  his  righteousness,  and 
by  means  of  his  enchantments,  may  control  both  men  and  gods. 

Hence  the  proud  pre-eminence  of  the  Brahmun.  In  all  things 
he  domineers  over  an  ignorant  multitude.  He  works  on  their 
fears;  turns  every  prejudice  and  superstition  to  his  own  account; 
checks  every  innovation  or  improvement;  enforces  his  injunc- 
tions and  accomplishes  his  purposes  by  the  tyranny  of  custom  and 
caste,  and  under  the  insidious  garb  of  religion.  The  pride  and 
dissimulation  of  a  Brahmun,  his  intrigue  and  dishonesty,  are 
proverbial. 

This  view  of  Brahmunism  and  the  Brahmuns  will  be  abundant- 
ly illustrated  and  sustained  in  the  life  and  character  of  Babajee, 
and  the  power  of  Divine  grace  will  be  as  richly  and  beautifully 
illustrated  in  his  subsequent  conversion,  brief  Christian  course, 
and  triumphant  death.  Should  the  writer  succeed,  as  he  hopes, 
in  developing,  through  this  biographical  vehicle,  what  may  be 
called  the  philosophy  of  that  great  satanic  delusion,  the  reader 
will  not  peruse  the  following  chapters  without  profit. 

We  know  little  of  Babajee' s  early  years.  His  mother  sacri- 
ficed herself  on  the  funeral  pile  of  her  husband,  when  he  was 
but  four  years  old,  depriving  him  at  this  tender  age  of  even  the 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

miserable  guidance  heathen  parentage  may  afford.  His  only 
brother  becoming  a  religious  mendicant,  the  family  inheritance 
fell  to  Babajee.  What  became  of  it  I  know  not. 

When  twenty-eight  or  nine  years  old,  we  find  him  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Scottish  mission  as  a  pundit,  or  teacher  of  the 
Mahratha  language,  where  he  remained  two  or  three  years,  and 
gained  probably  his  first  knowledge  of  salvation  by  Christ.  As 
might  be  expected  from  a  person  of  his  naturally  ingenuous  mind, 
he  was  at  times  not  only  persuaded  of  the  folly  and  insufficiency 
of  Hindooism,  but  practically  convinced  of  the  truth  and  excel- 
lency of  Christianity.  Sometimes  he  appeared  penitent,  and 
wept  an  account  of  sin.  This  state  of  mind  seldom  continued 
long.  His  relapses,  however,  were  rather  towards  skepticism 
than  back  to  idolatry.  He  came  to  Bombay  about  the  year  1823, 
and  from  that  time  to  his  death  was  much  in  the  service  of  the 
American  mission. 

In  this  connection,  he  improved  to  some  extent  the  means  he 
had  of  becoming  acquainted  with  Christianity.  An  event  oc- 
curred in  May,  1828,  which  had  no  doubt  much  to  do  in  open- 
ing his  eyes  to  the  absurdity,  as  well  as  the  tyranny,  of  Hindoo- 
ism.  The  mission  at  that  time  made  a  condition  of  service  that 
their  pundits,  school  teachers,  and  all  in  their  service  should  rise 
and  remain  standing  during  the  time  of  prayer  at  the  chapel. 
A  combination  was  formed  to  resist  the  regulation,  and  all  but 
Babajee  refused  to  comply  with  it.  He  said  there  was  nothing 
in  the  regulation  improper  in  itself,  or  contrary  to  the  Hindoo 
sacred  books ;  and  though  threatened  with  the  loss  of  caste  in 
case  of  compliance,  he  promised  to  rise  and  stand  on  the  follow- 
ing Sabbath.  He  fulfilled  his  promise.  This  brought  down  on 
his  head  a  storm  of  Brahmiuical  indignation.  Council  after 
otouncil  was  held  to  condemn  and  cast  him  out.  In  one  of  these 
tMJwnblies,  as  he  afterwards  told  me,  where  there  were  present 
not  less  than  a  thousand  Brahmuns,  he  appealed  to  their  reason 
and  common  sense,  and  pointed  out  to  them  the  absurdity,  as 
well  as  the  unkindness  of  their  persecuting  him  with  such 
severity,  for  doing  what  was  neither  improper  in  itself,  nor  con- 


INDIA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE.  139 

trary  to  the  requisitions  of  their  shastras,  nor  to  the  usages  of 
the  people  in  the  worship  of  their  own  gods.  He  also  declared 
in  that  assembly,  that  there  were  many  Brahmuns  there  present, 
with  whom  he  had  actually  eaten  beef,  and  drunken  brandy,  and 
caroused  for  whole  nights  together.  For  such  flagrant  trans- 
gressions, these  Brahmuns  had  not  been  cast  out,  or  even  censur- 
ed, but  were  esteemed  as  priests  of  the  first  respectability,  while 
he  was  arraigned  without  the  charge  of  any  such  transgression. 
Eating  beef,  and  drinking  brandy,  are  things  for  which  a  Brah- 
mun  ought  (even  according  to  the  Hindoo  shastras)  to  lose  caste, 
and  for  which  he  would  be  considered  an  outcast,  if  it  were 
known  to  the  people.  He  here  referred  to  a  private  society 
of  Brahmuns,  and  others  of  high  caste,  who  drink  and  revel 
together  without  distinction  of  caste. 

The  indignation  of  this  profane  priesthood  had  now  risen  to 
so  violent  a  pitch  against  this  defenseless  Brahmun,  and  so  hu- 
miliating were  the  penances  required  of  him,  that  the  mission 
deemed  it  advisable  for  him  to  leave  Bombay  till  the  storm 
should  be  overpassed.  After  his  return,  little  seems  to  have  been 
said  on  the  subject.  The  whole  affair  was  well  fitted  to  give 
him  a  disgust  for  the  foolery  and  despotism  of  caste,  and  to  open 
his  eyes  to  the  corruption  of  the  priesthood.  It  produced,  how- 
ever, no  saving  effect. 

In  the  spring  of  1831,  the  writer  found  him  out  of  employ, 
having  been  discharged  for  profligate  habits  and  unfaithfulness 
in  his  business.  The  punishment  inflicted  by  the  dismissal  being 
deemed  sufficient  to  insure  his  better  conduct,  I  engaged  him  as 
a  pundit.  He  was  for  some  time  attentive  to  his  business,  and 
always  anxious  his  pupil  should  make  rapid  progress  in  acquir- 
ing the  language.  Though  sometimes  obliged  to  admonish  him 
for  irregularity,  and  oftener  for  advancing  infidel  sentiments,  his 
kind,  open  and  generous  heart  I  could  not  but  admire.  After 
the  lapse  of  six  months,  being  about  to  leave  Bombay  to  make 
a  long  tour  on  the  continent,  I  discharged  our  Brahmun,  not  in- 
tending to  employ  him  again,  unless  there  should  be  a  reasona- 
ble hope  he  would  serve  me  more  faithfully  than  he  had  done. 


140  INDIA  AXD   ITS   PEOPLE. 

Just  at  this  time  Mr.  Graves  returned  from  the  Feilgherry 
Hills.  The  repetition  of  the  instruction  Babajee  had  so  often 
heard  from  him,  and  the  renewed  appeals  now  made  to  his  con- 
science, sunk  deep  into  his  soul  and  awoke  him  from  his  leth- 
argy, and  he  was  soon  brought  to  the  foot  of  sovereign  mercy, 
to'plead  for  pardon.  He  used  often  to  say,  "  The  Christian  reli- 
gion is  very  strict  and  severe."  He  alluded  especially  to  its  cog- 
nizance of  the  thoughts  and  motives.  He  had  many  convictions 
in  favor  of  the  Christian  religion ;  and  the  more  because  of  its 
purity  and  his  own  conscious  impurity.  Yet  on  some  occasions 
he  reasoned  against  it  most  stubbornly.  At  other  times  he  was 
overwhelmed  with  tears  and  acknowledged  his  obligation  to  em- 
brace it.  "  On  one  occasion,"  says  Mr.  Graves,  "  he  was  so  deep- 
ly impressed,  that,  with  his  consent  and  wish,  I  prayed  with  and 
for  him.  He  knelt  and  was  deeply  affected.  Yet  those  impres- 
sions subsided,  or  were  subdued  by  his  opposition  to  them,  so 
that  he  seemed  unfeeling ;  and  I  had  almost  entirely  relinquished 
the  hope  of  his  conversion.  But  not  knowing  what  might 
prosper,  after  my  return  from  the  Neilgherry  Hills,  when  he 
called  on  me,  I  felt  disposed  to  address  him  seriously.  He  seem- 
ed very  sedate,  and  I  felt  unusual  freedom  and  pity.  But  the 
substance  of  all  that  I  pressed  upon  his  consideration,  was  the 
importance  of  deciding  at  that  time,  for  eternity,  what  religion 
he  would  positively  choose.  *  Have  you  fully  and  finally,  for 
eternity,  decided  respecting  the  Christian  religion?  Are  you 
sure  you  shall  have  no  wish  or  occasion  to  reconsider?  Do 
attend  to  it  now,  in  such  a  manner  that  you  would  be  willing  to 
have  the  decision  unalterable  forever.  You  have  eternity  before 
you ;  you  may  cause  yourself  joy  or  sorrow  to  all  eternity,  as 
you  fix  your  decision  right  or  wrong.  I  entreat  you  to  decide, 
so  that  you  will  not  wish  to  change  the  decision  forever.  And 
then  practice  cheerfully  and  heartily,  according  to  that  decision. 
There  is  a  right  and  a  wrong.  Search  them  out — choose  the 
good  and  refuse  the  evil.  Your  opportunity  to  decide  favorably 
to  your  interest,  will  soon  certainly  close  for  eternity.  You  can- 
not change  after  death.  You  are  now  to  act  for  an  intermina- 


•f 

INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  141 

ble  time.  Do  not  miss.'  Such,  as  well  as  I  can  recollect,  was 
the  substance  of  my  address.  He  seemed  rather  serious,  and 
disinclined  to  say  anything  of  consequence  in  reply,  and  pre- 
sently took  his  leave.  But  that  night  he  could  not  sleep.  He 
felt  persuaded  that  the  Christian  religion  was  true,  and  that  he 
had  lived  in  a  constant  violation  of  the  dictates  of  his  consci- 
ence, in  his  idolatry  and  wickedness;  and  he  resolved  that, 
whatever  might  be  the  consequences,  the  next  day  should  fix 
forever  his  separation  from  both.  Accordingly,  in  the  morning, 
he  left  everything  but  a  drinking  vessel,  which  he  brought  with 
him  to  our  house.  When  he  came,  he  cheerfully  said  that  his 
mind  was  then  made  up,  according  to  my  advice.  I  was  scarce- 
ly prepared  for  such  a  declaration  from  him,  and  could  scarcely 
understand  or  believe  it.  However,  I  at  length  gave  him  my 
hand,  after  hearing  a  little  explanation,  and  invited  him  into  a 
private  room,  where  I  prayed  with  him,  that  his  mind  might  be 
solemnized,  and  that  he  might  understand  and  feel  what  he  pro- 
fessed to  do.  After  me,  he  prayed  on  his  knees,  in  the  first 
person  singular ;  acknowledging  that  he  was  worthy  to  be  utter- 
ly and  eternally  rejected,  yet  entreating  God  the  Father,  Son 
and  Holy  Ghost,  to  receive  him  on  the  ground  of  grace  in  Christ 
alone,  and  to  purify  and  accept  him  forever.  Such  a  solemn 
self-dedication  and  confession  astonished  me,  as  totally  beyond 
my  anticipation,  and  such  as  I  had  scarcely,  if  ever,  witnessed. 
I  could  not  but  think  it  sincere.  He  immediately  relinquished 
caste,  and  all  his  connections,  expecting  nothing  but  reproach, 
as  he  afterwards  often  said,  and  not  looking  for  any  earthly 
good  whatever.  But  you  know  how  happily  he  was  disappoint- 
ed, by  the  softening  down  of  the  enmity  of  his  friends,  and 
their  conviction,  to  some  extent  at  least,  that  he  was  sincere  and 
cordial,  if  not  in  the  right.  For  my  own  part,  such  was  the 
fullness  of  my  conviction  of  his  sincerity,  that  I  dared  not  long 
defer  his  baptism,  and  felt  myself  called  upon  to  admire  the 
change,  and  praise  the  Lord  on  his  behalf.  And  his  serious  and 
steady  perseverance  afterwards,  gave  me  no  occasion  to  change 
my  opinion.  I  still  feel  myself  called  upon  to  acknowledge  and 


142  INDIA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE. 

admire  the  visibility  of  the  Divine  hand,  in  effecting  so  obvious 
and  great  a  change.  May  the  Lord  multiply  such  trophies  of 
grace,  and  receive  all  the  praise." 

No  one,  acquainted  with  the  force  of  early  habits,  will  be  aston- 
ished to  be  told  that  it  is  not  the  business  of  months,  and,  in 
many  cases,  not  even  of  years,  to  enable  a  native  convert  to  di- 
vest himself  entierly  of  all  those  ten  thousand  superstitions  and 
absurdities  which  he  imbibed  with  his  mother's  milk.  Notions 
about  lucky  and  unlucky  days,  omens,  signs,  dreams,  ghosts,  hob- 
goblins, things  pure  and  impure,  ablutions,  penances,  usages  of 
caste,  and  an  innumerable  list  of  minor  observances,  as  incon- 
ceivable by  the  Christian  as  common  and  inveterate  with  the 
Hindoo,  are  engrafted  on  the  mind  from  its  earliest  infancy.  To 
think  to  eradicate  them  by  human  expedients,  is  to  think  to  form 
a  new  creation.  No  one,  acquainted  with  the  Hindoo  character, 
will  affirm  that  a  Hindoo  may,  by  mere  human  efforts,  ever  be 
brought  to  relinquish  what  has,  by  education  and  habit,  become 
his  nature.  Poverty,  which  in  this  country  means  the  want  of 
those  things  which  are  absolutely  necessary  for  mere  subsistence, 
pressing  him  on  one  hand,  or  avarice  exciting  him  on  the  other, 
may  induce  him,  externally,  to  cast  off  his  superstitions,  and  to 
feign  a  compliance  with  the  sentiments  and  usages  of  those  from 
whom  he  hopes  to  gain  the  object  of  his  desires;  but  a  cordial 
abandonment  of  his  own  religion,  not  to  say  the  conversion  of 
his  heart,  and  a  radical  change  from  those  usages,  practices,  and 
superstitions,  which  are  alike  repugnant  to  reason,  common  sense, 
and  revelation,  can  only  be  effected  by  the  almighty  power  of 
God.  Overlooking  such  agency,  it  is  no  wonder  that  so  many 
nominal  Christians,  and  none  more  than  those  who  are  best  ac- 
quainted with  the  character  of  the  Hindoo,  affirm  that  the  Hin- 
doos cannot  be  converted  to  Christianity,  nor  any  radical  change 
be  produced  among  them.  Leaving  Divine  Omnipotency  out  of 
the  account,  my  opinion  will  fully  coalesce  with  theirs.  But 
once  bring  into  the  account  the  idea  of  Divine  agency,  which  I 
here  most  fully  and  joyfully  admit,  and  the  sure  promises  of  God, 
on  which  I  rely  as  the  only  basis  on  which  we  can  ground  the 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  143 

conversion  of  the  Hindoos,  and  the  question  is  in  an  instant 
changed  from  one  of  entire  despondency  to  one  of  hope.  We 
then  at  once  see  that  they  can  be  brought,  not  only  to  conform 
to  the  external  rites  of  Christianity,  but  to  exemplify  its  virtues 
in  uprightness  of  intention,  refinement  of  feeling,  purity  of  heart 
and  holiness  of  life. 

It  is  lamentable,  and  ought  to  humble  us  before  God,  and  make 
us  feel  our  dependence  on  sovereign  grace,  to  confess  that  such 
instances  of  conversion  have  as  yet  been  rare  in  this  part  of  In- 
dia ;  still  enough  has  been  done  to  convince  the  missionary  and 
his  patrons,  that  the  grace  of  God  is  abundantly  sufficient  to 
overcome  every  obstacle  which  the  depravity  of  men,  in  its  cun- 
ning devices,  has  thrown  in  the  way  of  the  conversion  of  this 
people.  Babajee  may  be  presented  to  the  friends  of  missions  as 
a  very  striking  example.  The  obstacles,  in  his  case,  were  as 
great  as  are  to  be  looked  for  any  where.  I  knew  him  well  before 
his  conversion,  and  assure  the  reader  no  exception  can  be  made 
in  his  favor.  He  was  as  learned  and  as  ignorant,  as  false  and 
subtle,  as  devoid  of  moral  rectitude,  and  regardless  of  the  rights 
and  happiness  of  others,  as  any  of  the  hollow-hearted  fraternity. 
Nor  does  any  thing  appear  in  his  childhood,  or  early  education, 
conducing  to  the  extraordinary  change  which  afterward  took 
place.  From  his  infancy,  he  had  been  acquainted  with  ah1  the 
ordinary  means  of  licentiousness  and  corruption  which  are  to  be 
met  with  among  a  most  licentious  and  corrupt  people ;  and  for 
the  last  ten  years  he  had  been  acquainted  with  what,  in  reference 
to  the  heathen,  forms  a  no  less  barrier  to  the  prevalence  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  ungodly  lives  of  Europeans.  He  saw  many  of  the 
representatives  of  Christianity,  in  India,  indulging  in  sins  which 
put  to  shame  the  heathen  themselves.  He  could  see  no  connec- 
tion between  the  pure  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  and  the  ungodly 
walk  of  the  greater  part  of  those  who  profess  to  be  the  disciples 
of  its  Author;  and,  therefore,  very  naturally  concluded  that 
Christianity,  like  the  system  of  the  Vedas,  is  some  Utopian  notion 
of  virtue,  got  up  by  a  designing  priesthood,  but  not  designed  to 
be  reduced  to  practice,  except  by  a  few  ascetics.  He  had  also 

'•-••-'• 


*  •>    -.'      ' 

•  *  »•  •          '     V*" 

144  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

seen  that  a  large  number  of  the  nominal  converts  to  Christianity 
differ  but  little  from  their  heathen  neighbors,  except,  having 
thrown  off  the  few  restraints  which  caste  and  superstition  im- 
posed, they  enjoy  greater  license  to  indulge  in  all  kinds  of  vice 
Xoue  of  these  things  had  escaped  the  discerning  eye  of  Babajee. 
One  day,  when  I  was  urging  on  him  the  claims  of  Christianity, 
he  replied,  "Your  system  is  very  good,  and  so  is  ours,  if  stripped 
of  corruptions  and  additions ;  but  nobody  practices  according  to 
cither  system.  You  say,  one  God  only  must  be  worshiped,  and 
BO  say  we.  In  order  to  enable  an  ignorant  people  to  worship  this 
invisible  God,  whose  greatness  they  cannot  comprehend,  and 
whose  purity  they  cannot  appreciate,  we  introduce  inferior  dei- 
ties to  aid  them;  but  the  great  majority  of  Christians  are  satis- 
fied without  worshiping  anything."  His  conclusion  was,  that 
the  world  is  extremely  depraved :  and  so  deep  is  the  disease,  that 
no  remedy  can  reach  it.  Such  having  been  his  circumstances, 
and  such  the  state  of  his  mind,  the  conclusion  is  forced  on  me 
that  Babajee  was,  through  the  free  and  sovereign  grace  of  God,  a 
chosen  vessel  of  mercy,  on  which  God  designed,  from  the  begin- 
ning, to  "  make  known  the  riches  of  his  glory,"  for  the  confirma- 
tion of  his  promises,  for  the  encouragement  of  missionaries,  and 
for  a  pledge  of  salvation  to  the  Hindoos. 


CHAPTER    X. 

Babajee's  Marriage  —  Removes  to  Ahmednuggur —  His  account  of  his  Conversion — 
Eagerness  for  Instruction  —  Private  Character,  delineated  by  way  of  contrast. 

PREVIOUS  to  his  conversion,  Babajee  had  been  living  for  seve- 
ral years,  illicitly,  with  one  of  those  unfortunate  females,  who, 
having  lost  their  betrothed  husbands  in  childhood,  are  forbidden 
by  the  laws  of  caste  again  to  marry.  Such  women  are  often 
taken  by  Brahmuns,  and  treated  as  wives.  In  most  cases,  how- 
ever, they  become  common  prostitutes.  Hence,  no  doubt,  the 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  145 

reason  that  the  terms  widow  and  prostitute  are  synonymous. 
Babajee  and  Audee  (the  name  of  the  young  widow)  lived  together, 
with  the  understanding  that  each  should  perform  their  relative 
duties  as  husband  and  wife ;  and,  apparently,  they  cherished  for 
each  other  as  strong  a  conjugal  affection  as  is  to  be  expected  in 
such  a  state  of  society.  On  embracing  Christianity,  Babajee  im- 
mediately felt  the  impropriety  of  remaining  in  his  present  condi- 
tion with  this  woman.  He,  therefore,  communicated  to  us  the 
particulars  of  the  case,  and  requested  he  might  now  be  lawfully 
married  to  her.  This  being  ascertained  to  be  the  wish  of  both 
parties,  the  mission  saw  fit  to  comply  with  the  request,  and  they 
were  accordingly  married. 

The  day  following,  he  left  Bombay,  with  his  now  lawfully 
wedded  wife,  to  accompany  the  brethren  who  had  been  set  apart 
to  form  a  mission  at  Ahmedriuggur.  lie  now  appeared  pecu- 
liarly animated  with  the  prospect  before  him.  The  Deckau,  till 
recently  closed  against  all  missionary  labor,  now  opened  a  field 
of  rich  Christian  adventure.  His  only  wish,  from  this  tune, 
seemed  to  be,  that  he  might  live  for  the  good  of  his  countrymen, 
and,  in  every  possible  way,  lighten  the  burdens,  and  strengthen 
the  hands,  and  encourage  the  hearts,  of  those  devoted  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  heathen.  The  reader  will  here  be  more  interested  to 
learn  from  Babajee  himself  what  were  his  views  and  feelings, 
and  what  the  struggles  of  conscience  against  the  heart,  for  some 
time  before  he  resolved  to  embrace  the  offer  of  salvation,  as  made 
known  in  the  Gospel.  The  following  paper  was  written  some 
weeks  after  his  arrival  at  Ahmednuggur;  and  as  it  illustrates 
more  accurately  than  I  can  do  the  process  which  the  mind  of  a 
Brahmun  must  pass  through,  before  it  can  reach  the  goal  of 
truth,  it  is  inserted.  Like  most  of  his  written  papers,  it  bears  no 
other  title  than 

"  BABAJEE,  A  SERVANT  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

"  This  is  the  controversy  which  I  had  with  my  mind  before  I 
became  a  Christian.     I  reasoned  thus  :  O,  my  soul !  art  thou  sin- 
ful or  not  ?    Then  the  soul  replied,  Yes,  I  am  sinful,  and  am  still 
10 


146  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

committing  sin.  Then,  I  said,  if  thou  remainest  in  sin,  what  will 
be  thy  reward  ?  My  soul  said,  If  I  die  in  sin  I  must  suffer  pun- 
ishment in  hell  for  ever.  Then,  continued  I,  does  it  seem  good 
to  thee  to  endure  eternal  punishment  ?  The  soul  replied,  It  does 
not  seem  good.  If  it  does  not,  what  then  art  thou  doing  to 
escape  the  just  recompense  of  sin  ?  In  the  Hindoo  religion,  I  am 
only  worshiping  idols,  and  calling  over  the  names  of  Row,  Vish- 
noo,  Krishna,  and  our  numerous  other  deities.  But  what  does 
this  profit?  This  looks  like  a  system  devised  hymen.  The 
religion  ordained  by  God  is  for  all  men.  What !  replied  my  mind, 
are  all  men,  then,  of  one  caste  ?  Discarding  such  a  thought  as 
profane,  I  again  reasoned :  there  are  eighteen  castes ;  be  it  so.* 
Of  what  caste,  then,  is  mj  soul?  Spirit  has  no  caste.  In  the 
body  only  am  I  of  the  Brahmun  caste.  To  obtain  salvation  by 
Hindooism,  I  must  walk  according  to  the  religion  God  has  given 
to  my  caste.  Do  I  fulfill  the  requirements  of  our  own  sacred 
books?  Rising  at  early  dawn,  do  I,  as  prescribed,  perform  the 
sacred  bathing  and  the  appointed  oblation  to  the  sun?  I  am 
found  guilty  at  the  very  threshold.  But  another  question :  Is  a 
man  allowed  by  our  shastras  to  commit  adultery  ?  Now,  0  my 
soul !  thou  art  found  wanting.  Thou  art  this  moment  living  in 
the  practice  of  this  sin.  It  is,  indeed,  a  sin ;  and,  in  committing 
it,  I  am  defiled  and  fallen.  But  all  Brahmuns  do  the  same  thing, 
and  no  one  regards  them  polluted  on  that  account.  Why,  then, 
am  I  ?  Ah !  the  Brahmuns  do  not  pronounce  him  who  commits 
lewdness  an  apostate  and  outcast,  lest  they  condemn  themselves. 
But  this  is  certain :  whoever  breaks  the  Divine  commands  is  fallen 
in  the  sight  of  God,  and  the  consequence  of  this  transgression  is 
punishment  in  hell !  Let  me  not  share  with  him.  I  must  then 
walk  according  to  the  shastras.  But  this  I  cannot  do.  I  am  a 
sinner  from  my  birth,  and  cannot,  therefore,  work  out  a  proper 
righteousness.  A  man  may,  for  once,  fulfill  the  requirements  of 
our  shastras ;  yet  he  does  no  more  than  his  duty —  gets  no  merit 
by  it,  though  the  neglect  would  incur  guilt. 

*  The  Hindoos  believe  there  are,  in  the  East,  eighteen  castes  of  turban  men ;  als« 
eighteen  castes  of  topee  wallas,  or  hat-men,  in  Europe. 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  147 

"  Hence,  it  appears  evident,  that  by  ceremonies  prescribed  in 
the  shastras,  by  the  worshiping  of  idols,  by  vain  repetitions  of 
uiuntras,  by  holy  bathing,  by  religious  austerities,  and  such  like 
expedients,  freedom  from  sin,  and  blessedness  after  death,  can 
never  be  obtained.  What  then  shall  I  do  ?  "What  will  rescue 
me  from  this  ocean  of  sin  ?  Alas !  nothing  that  I  can  do  can 
save  me  from  the  punishment  of  sin. 

"  When  my  mind  was  thus  distressed,  I  resolved  to  cast  aside 
every  system  of  religion,  forsake  the  world,  and  flee  to  a  gooroo.* 
I  then  employed  a  Brahmun,  by  the  name  of  Wasadeo,  as  my 
gooroo ;  of  him  I  learned  the  muntras.f  These  I  repeated  no 
less  than  three  thousand  times.  For  a  time  my  mind  was  satis- 
fied. But  soon  I  began  to  reason  with  myself  again.  Is  my 
gooroo  without  sin  ?  If  not,  how  can  a  sinful  gooroo  save  a  sin- 
ful disciple  ?  What  now  shall  I  do  ?  Where  shall  I  find  a  sin- 
less gooroo  ?  Alas !  alas !  among  the  whole  human  race  there  is 
not  a  sinless  man  to  be  found.  For  all  men  from  their  birth  are 
sinful.  Then  I  brought  to  mind  the  instructions  I  had  heard, 
how  that  the  Almighty,  all-wise,  ever  just,  merciful,  and  holy 
God,  in  order  to  make  an  atonement  for  the  sins  of  men,  took 
on  him  the  nature  of  man,  and  became  incarnate  in  the  world. 
The  name  of  this  incarnation  is  the  anointed  Savior,  Jesus 
Christ.  He  now  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  making  interces- 
sion for  all  who  repent  and  believe  on  his  name.  While  in  this 
world  he  endured,  for  more  than  thirty  years,  many  sufferings 
for  the  sins  of  the  people.  He  obeyed  the  Divine  commands, 
and,  for  the  sake  of  man,  he,  who  was  Almighty,  became  of  no 
reputation,  and  gave  his  life  for  sinners.  The  wicked  people 
charged  him  with  fault,  but  no  guilt  was  found  in  him.  He  was 
altogether  holy,  and  could  therefore  make  an  atonement  for  sin. 

*A  gooroo  is  a  spiritual  guide,  and  with  the  Hindoos  a  sanctifier  and  savior. 
Almost  every  man  employs  his  gooroo.  According  to  the  Hindoo  books,  he  must  be 
sinless. 

f  Muntras  are  charms,  or  incantations,  which  are  muttered  over  by  the  Brahmuns. 
By  these  they  pretend  to  bring  the  Divinity  into  an  image,  and  do  various  other 
things  equally  probable. 


148  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

He  is  the  way,  and  by  him  only  can  I  enter  the  kingdom  of 
bliss.  It  is  said  in  our  shastras  that  the  good  works  of  a  sardoo 
(saint)  are  his  way  to  heaven.  But  what  are  described  to  be  the 
marks  of  a  sardoo  ?  They  are  these :  equity,  compassion,  self- 
denial,  freedom  from  anger,  and  disregard  of  caste.  But  such  a 
man  is  not  to  be  found ;  for  all  men  are  deceitful  and  deceived, 
covetous,  lascivious.  Therefore,  O  my  soul!  despise  thyself,  and 
flee  for  refuge  to  God,  the  Savior  Jesus  Christ,  and  he  will  make 
you  worthy  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  H^st  thou  ever  heard  of  him 
of  whom  I  now  speak?  Yes,  I  hare  often  heard  of  him,  and 
read  his  shastras.  And  what  do  you  think  of  him  ?  I  believe 
the  Christian  shastras  to  be  true,  and  Jesus  Christ  the  true  Sa- 
vior of  the  world.  Why  not  then  believe  on  him  ?  Should  I 
believe  on  him  and  be  baptized,  should  I  not  be  defiled  ?  Ac- 
cording to  the  Christian  shastras,  the  things  which  defile  a  man 
are  these :  evil  thoughts,  murders,  adulteries,  fornication,  theft, 
lying,  deceit,  and  such  like  things.  By  loving  unholy  objects, 
my  mind  has  become  polluted. 

"  I  have  despised  the  goodness  of  God,  which  should  have  led 
me  to  repentance.  What  shall  I  now  do  to  be  saved  ?  I  then 
determined  that  I  would  renounce  all  worldly  hope,  cast  off  the 
fear  of  the  people,  repent,  and  flee  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  cry  with 
my  whole  heart  to  God  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  three 
in  one,  that  he  would  have  mercy  on  me.  I  fully  resolved  to  go 
to  Jesus,  to  be  baptized,  and  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and 
to  keep  myself  from  sin.  I  then  prayed  to  the  living  God,  and 
communed  with  my  own  heart.  I  resolved  to  go  to  Graves 
Sahib,  tell  him  my  whole  heart,  and  ask  baptism.  I  begged  that 
I  might  remain  with  him,  as  I  did  not  like  to  go  to  my  own 
dwelling.  After  having  examined  me,  and  tried  me  for  a  few 
days,  his  Christian  brother,  Hervey  Sahib,  baptized  me  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  three  in  one ; 
and  the  same  day  I  partook  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  In  the  good 
instructions  which  Graves  Sahib  then  gave  me,  he  said,  « Think 
not  that  your  work  is  done,  for  the  obligation  under  which  you 
are  now  laid  to  labor  for  your  countrymen  is  very  great.'  From 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  149 

that:  time  I  have  examined  myself,  to  see  if  I  walked  according 
to  the  Gospel.  If  I  find  myself  acting  or  thinking  contrary  to 
my  Savior  and  my  God,  I  repent,  forsake  it,  and  ask  forgiveness. 
When  I  do  right,  I  know  this  is  through  the  influence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  for  this  I  thank  God.  Moreover,  I  leave  my- 
self in  the  hands  of  God,  through  the  mercy  of  Jesus  Christ." 

From  his  arrival  in  Ahmednugger,  Babajee  became  an  efficient 
member  in  the  mission.  He  had  already  .acquired  a  considerable 
knowledge  of  the  Scriptures^  indeed,  he  possessed  a  pretty  good 
theoretical  acquaintance  with  Christianity  before  he  knew  its 
spiritual  intent.  But 'now  he  sought  Divine  assistance,  and  gave 
himself  up  to  seek  the  truth  ag  revealed  through  Jesus  Christ. 
He  seized  on  every  new  truth  to  which  his  mind  was  directed, 
or  which  discovered  itself  to  him  in  his  reading  or  meditation, 
with  an  avidity  truly  astonishing.  It  was  gratifying  to  see 
with  what  delight  he  would  hang  on  your  lips,  while  relating  to 
him  some  portion  of  sacred  history  which  had  not  yet  been 
translated ;  or  illustrating  some  particular  doctrine,  with  which 
he  was  but  partially  or  not  at  all  acquainted  ;  or  while  directing 
his  mind  to  some  eminent  examples  of  Christian  fortitude  or  de- 
votedness.  He  grasped  the  truth  with  peculiar  eagerness,  and 
seldom  would  allow  even  a  suggestion,  or  an  incidental  mention 
of  any  one  truth,  which  he  did  not  well  understand,  to  pass,  till 
he  had,  by  further  inquiry,  not  only  made  himself  master  of  it, 
but  made  it  subservient  to  his  own  benefit  by  self-application. 
Kor  would  he  stop  here.  He,  more  peculiarly  than  any  person  I 
have  ever  met,  had  the  the  happy  talent,  or  rather,  I  should  say, 
the  invaluable  spiritual  gift,  of  communicating  to  others,  and  of 
enforcing  on  their  consciences,  every  truth  which  he  had  himself 
acquired. 

In  his  demeanor,  as  a  man  or  as  a  Christian,  he  was  modest, 
gentle  and  affectionate,  kind-hearted  and  ingenuous,  conscien- 
tious and  upright  in  his  secular  dealings,  fervent  and  active  in 
his  piety,  frequently  fertile  in  devising,  and  always  willing 
and  ready  in  co-operating  to  accomplish  any  plan  of  usefulness. 
To  say  that  he  had  no  errors,  would  be  to  say  that  he  was  not 


150  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

human ;  or  to  say  that  he  did  not  sometimes  fall  into  errors 
which  would,  at  first  view,  excite  the  surprise  of  the  good  peo- 
ple in  a  Christian  land,  would  be  to  affirm  what  no  one  ac- 
quainted with  the  perversity  of  the  Hindoo's  heart  would  expect 
from  one  just  emerged  from  Paganism.  From  his  conversion  to 
his  death,  the  writer  does  not  recollect  an  instance  when  a  hint, 
or  gentle  rebuke,  was  ever  received  unkindly,  or  was  not  found 
sufficient  to  correct  an  error,  though  that  error  were  the  result 
of  long  habit,  or  the  offspring  of  wrong  instruction  in  childhood. 

It  was  a  long  time  before  he  fully  comprehended  the  length  and 
the  breadth  of  the  fourth  command.  That  the  Sabbath  is  a  day  of 
rest  from  all  secular  avocations,  and  should  be  in  a  special  manner 
devoted  to  the  worship  of  God,  both  public  and  private,  he  well 
understood ;  but  he  did  not  so  fully  comprehend  that  it  should  be 
sanctified  to  the  end,  to  the  utter  exclusion  of  idleness,  sleeping, 
worldly  conversation,  and  such  like  intrusions  on  holy  time. 
Unfavorable  as  this  may  at  first  appear  to  one  educated  in  a 
Christian  land,  he  will  greatly  moderate  his  censure  when  he  re- 
flects that  the  idea  which  the  Hindoo  attaches  to  a  holy  day, 
bears  no  analogy  to  the  notion  which  the  devout  Christian  en- 
tertains of  the  Sabbath.  These  holy  days,  which  amount  in  all 
to  more  than  three  months  out  of  the  twelve,  are,  for  the 
most  part,  professedly  days  of  worship,  but,  in  reality,  days  of 
revelings  and  debauchery ;  and  it  is  but  making  a  moderate  al- 
lowance for  the  force  of  habit,  to  conceive  that  the  mind  of  a 
Brahmun,  which  had  for  more  than  thirty  years  been  nurtured 
in  the  most  degrading  notions  of  its  obligations  to  the  Supreme 
Being,  should,  even  when  partially  enlightened  by  Divine  grace, 
still  incline  to  identify  the  sacred  day  of  the  Christian  with  its 
miserable  substitutes,  the  holy  days  of  the  Hindoos.  These  are 
but  days  of  idleness  and  amusement. 

In  justice  to  Babajee,  however,  I  should  add  that  these  remarks 
apply  to  him  with  less  force  than  to  any  convert  which  I  have 
known  in  this  part  of  India. 

!N"or  ought  we  to  wonder,  should  converts  from  Paganism  be 
found  lamentably  deficient  in  industrious  habits.  Diligence  in 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  151 

business  is  almost  as  rare  a  quality  among  the  Hindoos  as  fer- 
vency of  spirit  in  serving  the  Lord.  They  seem  to  know  noth- 
ing of  the  value  of  time.  This,  added  to  their  natural  indolence, 
forms  one  of  the  most  obstinate  barriers  to  their  improvement. 
It  is  only  dire  necessity,  or  sensual  gratification,  that  impels  them 
to  action.  The  Arabian  Prophet  well  understood  these  traits  of 
character  in  the  people  of  the  East,  when  he  made  the  enjoy- 
ment of  heaven  to  consist  principally  in  inactivity  and  sensual 
gratification.  To  eat  and  drink,  smoke  the  hookar,  lounge  in 
perfect  listlessness,  sleep,  and  waUow  in  beastly  indulgence,  seem 
to  form  in  the  mind  of  the  generality  of  Hindoos  the  acme  of 
bliss.  This  native  indolence  of  character  is  confirmed  by  long 
habit,  and  fostered  by  a  great  variety  of  long-established  cus- 
toms; and  though  Divine  grace  may  produce  a  more  visible 
change  in  them  than  is  generally  observed  in  the  conversion 
of  nominal  Christians,  yet  there  is,  in  this  respect,  a  most  la- 
mentable deficiency  in  all  converts  which  have  fallen  under  my 
notice  in  Inc|ia. 

The  subject  of  this  memoir,  if  weighed  in  the  balance  of 
Christian  diligence  in  America,  would  be  found  wanting;  but 
when  tried  by  the  heathen  standard,  or  when  compared  with  any 
thing  I  have  seen  among  native  converts,  he  was  truly  an  exam- 
ple worthy  of  imitation. 

I  have  spoken  of  Babajee's  eagerness  in  pursuit  of  truth.  This 
is  by  no  means  a  natural  trait  of  Brahmunism  or  the  Brahmuns. 
Of  the  great  number  with  whom  I  have  conversed  on  different 
topics,  connected  with  religion  and  science,  I  cannot  say  I  have 
found  one  who  showed  a  decided  wish  to  know  what  is  true  and 
what  false.  At  the  time,  I  have  sometimes  thought  differently ; 
but  the  result  has  showed  that  an  interested  motive  lay  at  the 
bottom  of  any  seeming  interest  manifested  for  truth.  They  stu- 
pidly believe,  or  pretend  to  believe,  everything  handed  down 
from  their  forefathers.  "When  asked  why  they  believe  this  or 
that,  they  reply,  that  investigation  or  discussion  is  no  part  of 
their  duty;  for  every  thing  needful  for  them  to  believe  was 
piously  examined  and  settled  by  the  good  men  of  old ;  and  that 


152  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

it  ill  becomes  them  of  this  degenerate  age  to  question  the  wis- 
dom of  their  more  holy  and  erudite  ancestors.  Ask  them  why 
they  believe  there  is  one  sea  of  ghee,  one  of  milk,  another  of 
honey,  &c.,  or  why  they  believe  sin  may  be  expiated  by  bathing, 
pilgrimage,  feasting  Brahmuns,  or  by  penance  ?  They  reply,  so 
our  shastras  say,  and  surely  our  sage  and  pious  fathers  under- 
stood these  matters.  They  will  tell  you,  too,  that  "  as  a  man  be- 
lieveth,  so  is  he."  If  he  believeth  a  stone,  or  tree,  or  any  visible 
object,  to  be  a  god,  to  him  it  is  a  god ;  or  if  he  believeth  a  sinful 
being  to  be  his  Savior,  or  a  bad  man  to  be  a  good  man,  to  him  it 
becomes  so. 

The  Brahmun  shows  a  strange  moral  obtuseness.  He  calls 
good  evil,  and  evil  good;  light  darkness,  and  darkness  light. 
Lying  is  good,  if  it  result  in  immediate  benefit ;  to  speak  the 
truth  is  evil,  if  it  terminate  in  immediate  loss.  Meats  and  drinks, 
divers  washings  and  corporeal  inflictions,  make  up  their  right- 
eousness, while  sin  is  really  but  a  transgression  of  the  laws  of 
caste.  To  lie,  steal,  cheat,  deceive,  commit  adultery ;  and  wallow 
like  swine  in  the  filth  of  moral  turpitude,  is  too  trifling  a  thing 
to  be  named ;  it  is  only  what  their  gods  did  before  them.  But 
to  eat  with  a  man  of  another  caste,  however  respectable  he  may 
be,  or  to  drink  out  of  the  same  cup,  is  a  sin  only  pardonble  by  a 
large  sum  of  money !  A  Brahmun  becomes  polluted  by  eating 
with  his  prostitute,  but  not  by  cohabiting  with  her,  although  she 
be  of  low  caste. 

The  anxiety  and  disinterestedness  which  Babajee  manifested  in 
his  efforts  for  the  welfare  of  his  countrymen,  both  in  this  world  and 
the  world  to  come,  are  traits  which  we  in  vain  search  for  among 
the  Hindoo  priesthood.  Disinterestedness  and  gratitude  are 
ideas,  to  express  which  there  are  no  corresponding  terms  in  the 
Indian  languages ;  and  it  may  be  questioned  whether  any  such 
ideas  exist  in  a  native's  mind.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  a 
lamentable  fact,  that  efforts  of  any  kind  are  very  seldom  or  never 
made  for  the  spiritual  benefit  of  their  fellow  beings.  How  can  a 
gleam  of  benevolence  warm  the  heart  of  one  who  fancies  that 
the  shadow  of  a  man  of  low  caste  pollutes  him ;  and  who  will 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  153 

affirm,  as  I  have  heard  them,  that  he  would  not  lay  hold  on  such 
a  one  to  pull  him  out  of  a  ditch,  though  this  were  the  only 
means  to  save  the  poor  man's  life?  They  most  industriously 
conceal  from  the  people  the  books  which  they  regard  as  divine, 
asserting,  as  if  written  in  them,  any  thing  which  best  suits  their 
own  purposes.  There  probably  never  was,  since  the  creation  of 
the  world,  so  complete  and  gross  a  system  of  priestcraft  as  Hin- 
dooism.  Not  a  precept  is  inculcated,  not  a  ceremony  is  palmed 
on  the  people,  that  does  not,  directly  or  indirectly,  go  to  ag- 
grandize or  profit  the  priesthood.  The  poor  wretch  is  told  to 
make  a  pilgrimage,  and  is  promised  in  consequence  a  large  stock 
of  merit.  This  is  to  feed  a  set  of  lazy  Brahmuns,  and  to  support 
a  train  of  vile  prostitutes,  who  keep  the  holy  place.  For  the 
poor  man  may  rest  assured  that  he  will  never  have  the  satisfac- 
tion of  knowing  that  the  object  of  his  pilgrimage  is  accomplshed, 
and  that  he  may  now  return  home,  till  his  money  is  gone. 
Almost  every  event  in  the  common  occurrences  of  life,  must  be 
attended  with  some  silly  ceremony.  This  is  that  the  Brahmun 
may  get  a  fee.  The  mental  improvement,  much  less  the  eternal 
welfare  of  the  people,  forms  no  part  of  a  Brahmun's  wishes  and 
plans  in  reference  to  his  flock.  As  far  as  he  manifests  any  con- 
cern about  them,  it  is  to  keep  them  involved  in  the  gross  darkness 
of  ignorance.  "When  the  drunkard  becomes  sober,  or  the  pro- 
fane man  devout,  or  the  highway  robber  an  honest  man,  he  does 
not  exhibit  a  more  decided  change  of  heart,  than  the  Brahmun 
does  when  his  breast  glows  with  benevolence  towards  his  kind. 
Being  themselves  supremely  selfish,  they  cannot  conceive  how 
any  one  should  be  otherwise.  Hence  the  idea  that  the  mission- 
ary enterprise  is  a  disinterested  thing,  solely  for  their  own  ben- 
efit, appears  to  them  perfectly  preposterous.  It  is  to  be  doubted 
whether  one  of  a  thousand  of  those  who  know  something  of  the 
nature  of  missionary  efforts,  yet  believes  that  there  is  not  behind 
the  curtain  some  grand  scheme  of  aggrandizement,  both  to  mis- 
sionary societies  and  to  their  missionaries.  Formerly,  they  sup- 
posed them  connected  with  government.  We  cannot,  when  we 
look  into  a  native's  mind,  wonder  that  he  should  entertain  such 


154  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

notions  of  all  plans  of  benevolence ;  and  we  cannot  expect  that 
he  will  appreciate  in  another  a  quality  which  he  is  conscious  he 
does  not  possess  himself,  and  which,  from  experience  and  obser- 
vation, he  knows  does  not  exist  among  those  with  whom  he  as- 
sociates. Though  he  cannot  see  in  what  way  missionaries  or 
their  friends  are  to  be  benefited  by  their  thankless  labors  among 
them,  yet,  reasoning  from  the  only  premises  he  possesses,  he 
doubts  not  that  pecuniary  benefit  or  worldly  aggrandizement  is 
the  moving  principle.  Some,  affecting  to  be  more  sagacious  and 
charitable,  suppose  the  missionary  work  an  affair  of  merit  or 
penance,  perhaps  of  indulgence,  and  they  congratulate  them- 
selves as  the  promoters  of  our  spiritual  good. 

It  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say,  that  Babajee's  whole  soul 
seemed  bound  up  in  the  welfare  of  his  people.  He  would  weep 
over  their  perversity,  entreat  them  with  the  affection  of  a 
brother,  pour  out  his  soul  to  God  for  their  salvation,  and  beseech 
the  Lord  to  preserve  the  missionaries  who  are  laboring  for  their 
good,  and  to  increase  their  number.  In  his  private  conversa- 
tions with  the  people,  which  were  many,  and  his  daily  instruc- 
tions at  our  religious  services,  he  always  pressed  the  truth  on 
their  attention,  with  a  tenderness  and  force  which  was  truly 
admirable. 

The  facility  with  which  he  renounced  any  custom  or  prejudice, 
or  any  usage  of  caste,  as  soon  as  he  discovered  it  to  be  contrary 
to  the  Christian  religion,  is  no  less  indicative  of  a  radical 
change.  For  no  one  who  knows  the  Hindoos  will  allow  that  this 
is  a  natural  trait.  To  forego  any  of  the  silly  rites  of  caste,  to 
eat  from  the  hands  of  a  person  of  another  order,  to  admit  an  in- 
novation, or  even  to  adopt  an  improvement,  is  as  repugnant  in  a 
heathen  land,  as  the  opposite  is  in  a  Christian  land.  I  cannot 
better  illustrate  this  part  of  the  subject,  than  by  a  reference  to 
what  has  actually  fallen  under  my  obeservation  in  the  case  of 
Brahmuns  who  have  been  employed  by  us  at  Ahmednuggur  as 
pundits.  One  objected  to  a  man  of  low  caste  coming  into  the 
room  where  he  was,  and  would  not  allow  the  table  to  be  laid,  or 
a  piece  of  meat  to  be  brought  into  his  presence.  Another  was 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLB.  155 

polluted  by  passing  over  a  mat  on  which  a  Mhar  had  stepped. 
The  same  person  asked  leave  of  absence  for  three  days,  to  purify 
himself  from  a  pollution  with  which  he  had  become  infected  by 
a  Mhar  passing  through  a  room  where  he  was  sitting,  the  room 
being  matted.  Once  he  was  called  before  a  council  of  Brah- 
muns,  and  charged  with  taking  from  my  hand,  and  eating,  a 
banana.  The  same  men  petitioned  to  have  a  low  wall  built 
across  our  mud  chapel,  at  which  they  were  required  to  attend 
Divine  worship  while  in  our  service,  that  they  might  be  the  more 
effectually  secured  from  the  people  of  low  caste,  who  were  also 
present.  These  prejudices,  born  with  them,  and  engrafted  in 
their  very  nature,  may  sometimes  deserve  more  indulgence  than 
they  receive.  The  nominal  Christian  has  no  such  sacrifices  to 
make  before  he  becomes  a  convert;  and  should  some  of  these 
relics  of  Paganism  remain  after  conversion,  it  is  only  what  might 
be  looked  for.  In  this,  however,  Babajee  formed  an  exception. 
He  would  eat  with  foreigners,  and  had  almost  continually  some 
one  of  low  caste  about  his  house.  More  than  once  he  bade  sev- 
eral of  the  inmates  of  the  poor-house,  persons  of  the  lowest 
caste,  to  dinner,  and  partook  with  them  himself.  He  seemed  to 
have  wholly  freed  his  mind  from  the  notions  of  lucky  and  un- 
lucky days,  omens,  hobgoblins,  and  the  like;  a  deliverance  of 
vast  magnitude  for  a  Hindoo.  But  nothing  showed  more  decid- 
edly the  complete  conquest  which  he  had  gained  over  the  super- 
stitions and  customs  of  the  country,  than  that  which  appeared  in 
reference  to  touching  the  dead,  especially  the  corpse  of  a  low 
caste  person.  In  two  instances  he  prepared  the  body  for  burial, 
and  assisted  in  carrying  the  corpse  from  the  house.  The  cheer- 
ful and  unhesitating  manner  in  which  he  did  a  duty,  which  no 
Brahmun  in  the  country  would  do  for  the  price  of  his  caste,  or 
perhaps  the  price  of  his  life,  excited  the  wonder  of  Dajaba,  who 
had  been  a  professor  of  Christianity  more  than  five  years,  with- 
out being  able  to  bring  his  mind  to  so  willing  a  performance  of 
a  duty  of  this  kind. 

In  scarcely  any  way  did  Babajee  evidence  more  clearly  a  radi- 
cal change  of  heart,  than  in  his  uniform  adherence  to  the  truth. 


156 

This,  in  a  Christian  country,  would  not,  I  am  aware,  be  allow- 
ed as  any  decisive  evidence ;  for  there  the  liar  is  stigmatized  by 
an  enlightened  public  opinion.  But  nothing  of  this  exists  in  a 
heathen  land.  It  was  never  more  true  of  the  Cretans  than  it  is 
of  the  Hindoos,  "that  they  are  always"  and  all  "liars."  The 
only  exception  to  be  made  in  favor,  or  rather  against  the  Brah- 
muns,  is,  that  they  practice  the  abominable  vice  with  a  little 
more  grace  and  subtlety.  Both  in  precept  and  practice,  they 
allow  that  a  man  may  lie,  if  he  can  be  more  benefited  by  a  false- 
hood than  by  the  truth.  The  people  are  also  taught,  from  their 
sacred  books,  that  if  the  interest  of  a  Brahmun,  or  the  welfare 
of  a  cow,  require  it,  they  ought  to  lie,  and  that  such  a  lie  is  no 
sin.  From  the  Maharaja  (the  great  king)  down  through  every 
grade  of  his  subjects,  every  man  speaks  the  truth  or  utters  false- 
hood just  as  he  fancies  will  best  comport  with  his  own  interest. 
The  native  prince  makes  treaties,  to  break  them ;  pledges  his 
faith,  to  violate  it  the  moment  it  suits  his  interest  or  convenience. 
This  same  disregard  to  all  engagements  and  bargains,  runs  down 
through  all  ranks  of  natives.  You  can  expect  a  native  to  fulfill 
an  engagement,  only  as  far  as  he  is  impelled  by  interest  or  fear 
of  authority. 

An  example  or  two  will  suffice  to  show  how  the  most  learned 
and  respectable  among  the  priesthood  can  lie.  A  Brahmun,  by 
the  name  of  Ragoba,  has  been  employed  by  us  as  a  Mahratha 
pundit  nearly  two  years.  He  is  a  mild,  gentlemanly  man,  regards 
himself  very  wise  and  holy,  and  shows,  to  say  the  least,  more 
pride  to  be  thought  a  man  of  truth  and  integrity,  than  any 
Brahmun  with  whom  I  have  been  acquainted.  As  an  indispens- 
able condition  of  service,  he  is  required  to  attend  at  our  preach- 
ing-place on  the  Sabbath,  and  the  prayer-meeting  on  the  first 
Monday  of  the  month.  Being,  of  course,  averse  to  this,  he  in- 
vented every  excuse  to  avoid  it.  After  some  time,  his  excuses 
became  more  frequent;  and  I  (for  he  was  then  in  my  service)  had 
too  much  reason  to  believe  he  was  deceiving  me  by  gross  false- 
hood. At  one  time,  he  mistook  the  hour,  or  his  family  were 
sick ;  at  another  time,  a  father  or  brother  from  a  distance  had 


INDIA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE. 

called  on  him,  and  he  could  not  neglect  the  tenderest  offices  of 
friendship;  again,  he  had  heafd  of  the  death  of  a  relative  at 
another  village,  and  was  unclean,  and  could  not,  in  consequence, 
appear  in  public.  So  improbable  did  his  excuses  become,  that  I 
finally  told  him  that  I  should  no  longer  regard  them.  After  a 
few  Sabbaths,  he  was  absent  again.  I  had  but  just  returned  from 
the  morning  service,  when  he  came  to  me  with  a  tale  of  woe, 
which  softened  all  my  severity.  The  image  of  grief  sat  on  his 
countenance,  and  his  whole  demeanor  made  me  repent  of  my 
rigor.  He  was  tacitly  excused  before  he  spoke.  My  conscience 
reproved  me,  that  the  poor  man  should  think  it  necessary  to 
obtain  my  approbation,  to  enjoy  the  melancholy  pleasure  of 
spending  the  few  hours  which  were  afforded  over  all  that  remain- 
ed of  his  only  and  beloved  son.  "Yes,"  said  he,  "my  only  son 
is  dead ;  he  died  this  very  morning.  I  hope  you  will  excuse  my 
absence,  and  allow  me  to  pay  the  last  mark  of  respect  to  his 
remains  this  evening."  The  manner  in  which  he  spoke,  indeed 
his  whole  deportment,  confirmed  the  truth  of  his  words.  His 
grief,  thought  I,  is  not  that  superficial,  half-felt  grief,  which 
sometimes  appears  in  the  countenance  of  an  indifferent  father 
only,  on  the  days  of  the  death  and  burial  of  his  child.  But  it  is 
rather  that  deep,  solemn,  and  almost  heart-rending  grief,  which 
a  tender  mother  feels  when  the  darling  of  her  bosom  is  snatched 
away  by  death.  I  sought  without  delay  to  make  the  best  amends 
I  could,  for  the  wound  which  I  had,  unintentionally,  inflicted.  I 
opened  my  Mahratha  Testament,  and  poured  into  his  wounded 
spirit  the  balm  which  flows  from  that  blessed  fountain.  He  ap- 
•eared  more  calm,  and  acknowledged  the  superior  excellency  of 
he  Christian  Scriptures  in  the  hour  of  distress.  Thankful  for 
he  comfort  which  I  had  administered,  he  went  away.  After  the 
lays  of  mourning  and  purification  had  passed,  he  returned  to  his 
employment.  Though  he  had  by  this  time  resolved  the  whole 
into  truthful  fate,  and  bowed  to  the  shrine  of  his  hard  destiny, 
he  was  evidently  still  a  man  of  grief.  I  accordingly  referred  to 
the  subject  with  all  due  delicacy,  and  endeavored  to  improve  the 
occasion  to  his  spiritual  benefit.  Judge  then  of  my  surprise, 

'  r 


158  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

when  I  toll  yon,  that  I  have  the  consolation  of  knowing  that  the 
child  is  still  living :  indeed,  he  was  never  dead ! 

It  will  not  be  irrelevant  to  mention,  under  this  head,  the  un- 
fairness and  prevarication  which  a  Brahmun  will  use  in  argument. 
I  have  seldom  conversed  in  good  earnest  with  one  of  this  class, 
that  is,  conversed  with  him  in  such  a  manner  as  to  press  upon 
him  the  peculiarities  of  the  Christian  religion,  so  that  he  could 
not  but  see  that  it  was  done  at  the  expense  of  his  own  favorite 
scheme,  when  he  would  not,  to  gain  his  end,  prevaricate,  turn, 
twist,  contradict  himself,  deny  that  he  had  ever  said  what  but  a 
moment  before  he  uttered,  resort  to  gross  falsehoods,  and  use  any 
means  which  best  suited  his  present  exigency.  To  gain  their 
point  with  an  opponent,  or  to  answer  their  selfish  ends  with  the 
people,  they  will  assert,  as  written  in  their  shastras,  any  thing 
they  please ;  and  what  they  affirm  to  be  divine  truth  to-day,  they 
will,  on  the  same  principle,  deny  to-morrow.  Babajee,  by  his 
uniform  practice  of  unhesitatingly  and  unequivocally  speaking 
the  truth,  differed  from  what  he  once  was,  in  the  same  degree 
that  he  did  from  the  men  of  his  tribe.  For  he  was,  like  them, 
a  child  of  the  same  father.  (John  viii.  44.)  As  closely  connect- 
ed with  the  preceding,  I  may  next  mention, 

His  simplicity  of  character,  as  a  grace  which  eminently  adorned 
our  Hindoo  Christian,  but  one,  too,  for  which  he  was  in  no  wise 
indebted  to  Hindooism.  The  term  will  but  ill  apply  to  any  class 
of  people  which  I  have  met  in  India.  They  are,  as  a  people, 
double-tongued,  double-minded,  subtle,  and  deceitful,  every  man 
according  to  his  ability.  To  speak  of  a  simple-hearted,  artless 
Brahmun,  would  be  like  speaking  of  a  sober  drunkard,  or  a  pious 
infidel.  Never  does  the  subtlety  of  the  Brahmun  appear  more 
pre-eminently  hateful,  than  in  the  ten  thousand  artful  ma- 
noeuvres which  he  is  constantly  practicing  to  keep  the  eyes  of 
the  people  closed  from  the  light,  and  to  induce  them  to  keep  up 
the  observance  of  those  silly  rites  which  secure  his  own  honor, 
and  gain  him  a  livelihood.  The  example  given  above,  very  strik- 
ingly illustrates  this  part  of  the  subject  too.  But  a  few  others 
will  be  here  tolerated.  To  defeat  our  efforts  for  female  education, 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  159 

the  Brahmuns  intimated  to  the  parents  of  the  girls,  who  were  at 
first  drawn  into  school  by  the  force  of  presents,  that  our  object 
in  organizing  girls'  schools,  was  to  collect  together  as  many  as 
we  could,  then  take  them  off  to  our  own  country,  or  sell  them  as 
slaves.  A  teacher  who  had  been  dismissed  for  illicit  intercourse 
with  one  of  the  older  girls,  in  order  to  prevent  any  other  person 
from  succeeding  in  the  school,  (which  already  was  but  just  tole- 
rated by  the  people,)  propagated  the  same  story,  accompanied 
with  other  fabrications,  which  quite  destroyed  the  school.  Noth- 
ing is  too  absurd  for  the  credulity  of  the  people.  They  were  all 
frightened,  and  kept  their  children  at  home. 

To  prevent  the  success  of  any  plan  of  ours,  to  get  service  for 
themselves,  or  to  get  a  recommendation  to  a  gentleman  in  the 
service  of  government,  they  are  proverbially  clever  in  all  the  ex- 
pedients of  craft,  flattery,  significant  insinuations,  frauds,  and 
falsehoods.  If  they  wish  to  prevent  some  poor  man  from  receiv- 
ing a  book,  or  hearing  our  doctrine,  they  have  only  to  say,  "  some 
calamity  will  fall  on  you ;"  and  holding  in  their  own  hands  all  the 
dark  mysteries  of  signs,  omens,  and  inauspicious  days  on  the  one 
hand,  and  relying  on  the  credulity  of  the  people  on  the  other, 
they  find  it  no  difficult  task  to  sway  the  minds  of  a  superstitious 
and  ignorant  populace  as  they  please.  They  gravely  open  the 
Punchang,  (Hindoo  calendar,)  and  declare  that  a  work  must  be 
undertaken  on  such  a  day,  or  that  the  consequence  of  such  and 
such  undertaking  will  be  prosperous  or  disastrous;  or  that  a 
marriage  must  be  immediately  celebrated  or  delayed,  according 
to  their  fancy,*  or,  more  generally,  according  as  it  best  suits  their 
own  interest.  In  this  way  they  keep  up  an  influence  over  the 
minds  of  the  people,  not  only  ridiculously  absurd,  but  very  ad- 
vantageous to  themselves,  and  ruinous  to  the  people.  If,  again, 
they  wish  to  incur  our  favor,  they  will  call  on  us,  speak  in  the 
most  flattering  terms  of  our  labors,  (though  we  know  them,  at 
the  same  time,  to  be  exceedingly  bitter  against  us,)  eulogize 
Christianity,  profess  their  belief  in  it,  and  beg  that  we  will  put 
them  in  a  way  to  be  instructed  in  its  doctrines.  All  this  is  done 
with  a  perfect  grace,  and  with  all  the  appearance  of  sincerity. 


ZKDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

The  instances  here  alluded  to  have  fallen  under  my  own  observa- 
tion, and  will  be  given  in  detail  in  another  chapter. 

Honesty  in  secular  affairs,  furnishes  another  point  of  contrast. 
Most  of  the  secular  business  of  the  mission,  together  with  the 
daily  distribution  at  the  poor-house,  was  in  Babajee's  hands.  He 
never  wanted  opportunity,  if  he  had  been  disposed,  to  practice 
on  us  acts  of  dishonesty  almost  every  day.  The  usages  of  the 
country,  too,  would  have  justified  him  hi  such  a  manner  as,  in 
many  cases,  to  spare  his  own  character  in  the  eyes  of  the  people, 
and  to  prevent  its  coming  to  our  ears.  As  this  is  known  to  be 
a  most  vulnerable  point  in  the  character  of  a  heathen  convert, 
the  strictest  vigilance  was  observed  towards  him,  lest  the  confi- 
dence which  the  weak  state  of  our  mission  at  the  time  obliged 
us  to  repose  in  him,  should  be  abused,  or  a  temptation  thereby 
placed  before  him,  to  ensnare  his  soul  into  the  easy-besetting  sin 
of  the  heathen.  But  I  am  most  happy  to  say,  that  I  never  de- 
tected him  in  attempting  to  defraud  me  of  a  single  pice,  nor  had 
any  reason  to  think  he  ever  did  it.  No  one  that  ever  heard  the 
name  Hindoo,  will  pretend  to  call  this  a  national  trait,  or  the  re- 
sult of  Hindooism.  Cheating,  defrauding,  and  embezzling  are 
limited  in  this  country,  only  by  the  ability  of  the  native,  and  the 
means  which  he  has  to  practice  them.  The  usages  of  the  country 
allow  this  to  a  certain  extent ;  but  a  native  is  not  likely  to  stop 
short  at  the  limits  of  sanctioned  dishonesty,  if  he  have  the  power 
and  opportunity  of  going  further.  This  only  forms  a  pretext  to 
go  any  length  he  chooses.  For  example,  if  a  man  in  your  ser- 
vice be  intrusted  with  a  sum  of  money,  great  or  small,  for  the 
purchase  of  articles,  his  first  object  is,  to  pocket  part  of  it,  in  the 
exchange  of  silver  for  copper :  then  he  overcharges  for  the  arti- 
cles; and  lastly,  if  possible,  cheats  in  weight  or  measure. 
The  puntogee  (school  teacher)  brings  a  false  account  of  his 
scholars,  and  demands  his  pay  accordingly.  The  laborer,  the 
co°lj>  (porter,)  the  merchant,  or  mechanic,  if  he  sees  you  are 
impelled  by  necessity  or  distress  to  call  in  his  aid,  has  no  bowels 
of  compassion.  I  am  disposed  to  think  that  the  natives  do  prac- 
tice more  dishonesty  on  foreigners  than  they  do  on  their  own 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  *       161 

people.  They  have  an  idea  that  Europeans,  being  their  conquer- 
ors, must  be  rich,  and  can  well  afford  what  their  wants  demand, 
or  what  their  avarice  craves.  And  as  the  former  are  foreigners, 
and  have  but  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  their  language  and  cus- 
toms, they  do  not  want  opportunities  to  indulge  their  propensity. 
The  native  servant  undoubtedly  finds  it  much  less  difficult  to 
justify  himself  for  defrauding  a  European  master,  than  he  would 
a  Hindoo  or  Mussulman. 

The  circumstances  of  Babajee  were,  such,  that  he  might  often 
have  improved  them  to  his  advantage.  In  several  instances,  he 
refused  bribes  which  were  offered  him,  (a  practice  very  common 
where  a  native  has  the  superintendence  of  any  business,)  if  he 
would  induce  me  to  give  such  an  amount  for  a  certain  piece  of 
work,  or  such  a  sum  for  a  certain  article.  According  to  the  cus- 
toms of  the  country,  every  overseer  of  business,  in  which  work- 
men are  employed,  demands  and  receives  a  small  share  of  the 
daily  wages  of  each  person.  He  also  gets  a  per  centage  on  every 
rupee  expended  in  materials  for  the  work,  besides  divers  little  or 
great  immunities,  as  the  rupees  pass  through  his  hands.  Babajee, 
of  his  own  accord,  set  his  face  at  once  against  all  these  customs. 
He  regarded  them  as  fraudulent  in  themselves,  and  contrary  to 
the  usages  of  the  Christian  religion. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

His  tender  Conscience — Docile  Temper — Humility — Self-Examination — Depend- 
ence on  God  —  Conquest  over  Covetousness  —  A  letter  to  other  Converts  —  Loves 
the  Bible  —  Feels  for  his  Countrymen  —  Letter  to  Mr.  Allen. 

WHILE  the  foregoing  particulars  undoubtedly  deserve  in  the 
present  case  all  the  prominence  which  has  been  given  to  them  as 
marks  of  a  radical  change  of  heart,  I  should  be  doing  unpardon- 
able injustice  to  his  piety,  were  I  to  pass  over  the  more  direct, 

and,  for  the  time  being,  the  more  satisfactory  evidences.    It  is 
11 


162  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

true,  the  tree  must  finally  stand,  or  fall,  according  as  it  brings 
forth  good  or  bad  fruit;  but  as  there  can  be  no  well-grounded 
hope  that  a  tree,  however  sightly  it  may  for  a  time  appear  to 
the  eye,  should  continue  to  flourish  and  bear  fruit,  unless  it  be 
well  rooted  in  a  good  soil,  and  refreshed  by  the  genial  dews  and 
rains  of  heaven,  it  becomes,  by  no  means,  the  least  interesting 
part  of  our  task  to  seek  to  enter  into  the  more  secret  recesses  of 
his  neart,  and  there  inquire  from  whence  originated  the  above- 
mentioned  traits  of  Christian  character,  which  so  much  distin- 
guished him  from  his  heathen  countrymen. 

He  possessed  a  tender  conscience.  If,  from  slothfulness  or  inad- 
vertence, or  from  the  force  of  former  habit,  he  neglected  his 
daily  devotions,  or  did  or  said  any  thing  which  might  give  an 
unfavorable  impression  of  the  religion  which  he  possessed,  or  if, 
in  his  more  public  instructions,  he  unwittingly  advanced  a  senti- 
ment not  in  accordance  with  scripture  doctrine,  on  being  re- 
minded of  his  error,  he  always  manifested  the  deepest  concern 
lest  he  had  given  the  enemy  occasion  to  blaspheme,  or  misguided 
some  benighted  soul  who  might  otherwise  have  been  led  to  seek 
after  the  truth. 

He  had  a  docile,  child-like  temper.  This  was  far  removed  from 
the  silly  credulity  which  emphatically  makes  the  Hindoo  the 
dupe  of  any  one  who  will  say  a  marvelous  thing.  But  once, 
after  a  thorough  examination,  having  renounced  his  ancient  sys- 
tem of  belief,  with  all  its  farrago  of  inconsistencies,  he  implicitly 
took  the  Bible  as  his  counsel  and  his  guide.  Like  an  amiable 
child  who  loves  and  reveres  his  father,  and  knows  that  his  kind 
parent,  though  he  may  sometimes  cross  his  favorite  plans,  only 
'seeks  his  ultimate  good,  so  Babajee  adopted  the  missionaries 
with  whom  he  was  connected  as  his  parents,  and  ever  yielded  to 
them  the  most  filial  love  and  obedience.  His  heart  was  much  in 
the  duty  of  preaching  the  Gospel  from  village  to  village.  He 
never  appeared  so  happy  as  when  traveling  from  place  to  place, 
and  declaring  to  new  multitudes  of  heathen,  every  day,  the  be- 
fore unheard  of  riches  of  Jesus  Christ.  As  he  was  at  that  time 
my  only  associate  in  the  mission,  we  could  not  both  conveniently 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  163 

be  absent  from  Nuggur  at  the  same  time ;  nor  could  Babajee 
travel  alone.  The  Brahmuns  would  not  deign  to  be  taught  by 
one  of  their  own  number  whom  they  regarded  as  an  outcast, 
unless  they  saw  him  under  the  protection  of  some  one  to  whom 
nature  had  given  a  skin  of  the  same  color  with  their  rulers. 
Considered  as  a  servant  of  such  a  one,  they  are  not  disparaged  by 
hearing  him.  Such  is  the  case,  too,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
with  the  common  people,  who  are,  in  these  matters,  much  influ- 
enced by  their  priests.  Though  extremely  desirable  that  he 
should  accompany  the  missionary  on  these  tours,  still  it  was  not 
always  expedient.  In  this,  as  in  matters  of  less  moment,  he 
would  submit  with  cheerful  and  filial  obedience,  and  never  allow 
his  disappointment  to  relax  his  labors  at  home. 

Humility,  without  which  the  pure  and  undefiled  religion  of  the 
meek  and  lowly  Jesus  will  not  deign  to  dwell  in  the  heart  of 
man,  beautifully  adorned  the  walk  of  our  Hindoo  brother.  His 
voluntary  and  entire  renunciation  of  caste,  which,  in  its  humil- 
iating consequences,  dashed  to  the  ground  the  boasted  fabric  of 
Brahminical  infallibility,  and  left  the  demigod  *  but  a  poor,  sin- 
ful, self-destroyed  man,  affords  of  itself  a  pretty  satisfactory 
proof  that  he  possessed  this  amiable  grace ;  for,  by  this  one  act, 
he  at  once  and  for  ever  forfeited  every  thing  which  in  this  life  is 
dear  to  man  —  his  home,  family,  countrymen,  the  priesthood  in 
which  he  had  gloried,  were  now  to  him  worse  than  annihilated; 
for  they  not  only  remained  to  him  as  monuments  of  his  former 
folly,  but  they  afforded  the  Brahmuns  ample  occasions  for  abusing 
and  despising  him.  isTot  even  the  common  hospitality  of  a  father 
or  a  brother,  or  the  ordinary  compassion  which  is  shown  to  the 
meanest  beast,  could  he  now  claim.  But  it  is  not  to  the  patience, 
the  humility  and  cheerfulness,  with  which  he  supported  himself 
when  thus  circumstanced,  to  which  I  now  refer.  It  is  rather  to 
that  distrust  of  self,  that  feeling  of  unworthiness,  that  sensitive 

*  The  Brahmuns  regard  themselves  not  only  as  the  peculiar  favorites  of  heaven, 
but,  in  consequence  of  the  honorable  descent  from  the  mouth  of  the  Creator,  as  a 
superior  order  of  beings.  They  believe  themselves  as  much  superior  to  other  men, 
as  God  is  superior  to  the  Brahmuns  —  that  is,  they  hold  a  station  middle  way  be- 
tween God  and  man. 


164  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

concern  lest  he  should  do  or  say  something  prejudicial  to  the 
cause  of  Christ,  or  dishonoring  to  God,  which  satisfied  the  mind 
that  Babajee's  humility  was  not  the  humility  of  the  hypocrite. 

He  wholly  disclaimed  all  hope  of  righteousness  through  the  merit 
of  works,  and  trusted  only  in  the  meritorious  righteousness  of 
Jesus.  Justification  by  faith  was  a  subject  on  which  he  dwelt 
much  in  his  instructions  to  the  people.  He  dwelt  much,  too,  in 
his  private  conversation,  on  the  deceitfulness  and  exceeding  de- 
pravity of  his  heart,  and  often  expressed  his  fears  that  he  might 
be  left  to  fall  into  gross  sin.  The  most  prominent  thing  in  his 
addresses  at  the  throne  of  grace  was,  confession  of  sin.  He  sel- 
dom spoke  of  his  former  course  of  life,  or  of  his  present  innate 
corruption,  without  tears.  "Whether  he  was  beset  by  Satan  with 
any  peculiar  temptations  which  do  not  fall  to  the  common  lot  of 
the  godly,  I  am  unable  to  say ;  but  true  it  was,  that  he  very  fre- 
quently spoke  of  the  devices,  the  intimations,  the  suggestions  of 
an  evil  spirit,  in  such  vivid  terms,  as  always  to  give  me  the  im- 
pression that  he  had  grappled  with  him  in  no  ordinary  way. 

He  often  expressed  his  meditations  and  prayers  on  paper.  I 
quote  a  few  sentences  as  examples :  "  0,  my  soul !  cast  off  all 
desire  for  worldly  pleasures ;  seize  on  the  hope  of  eternal  happi- 
ness; and,  in  the  name  of  the  Savior,  pray  to  God,  and  thou 
shalt  receive.  Ask  for  such  things  as  these :  wisdom,  peace  of 
mind,  compassion,  forgiveness,  hatred  of  sin,  knowledge,  love  to 
God,  love  for  the  worship  of  God,  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  repent- 
ance, the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit  — ask  to  dwell  with  God, 
and  to  enjoy  him  forever.  I  have  no  righteousness;  I  cannot 
walk  in  the  right  way ;  I  continually  stumble.  But  God  is  a 
sovereign,  and  knoweth  all  things.  Therefore,  what  is  most  fit 
for  us,  he  will  surely  give.  Hence  we  ought  to  love  him  with 
our  whole  mind  and  heart.  Merciful  God !  hear  my  prayer ;  I 
am  sinful,  polluted  and  fallen ;  clean  me  by  the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ.  I  was  born  in  sin,  my  works  are  all  sinful,  I  am  sin.  Love 
me,  0  God!  deliver  me- from  destruction — give  me  a  pure  heart, 
and  let  not  evil  thoughts  arise.  Let  not  sin  predominate  in  my 
heart.  Deliver  me  from  pride,  covetousness,  the  displeasure  of 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.         .  165 

the  good,  and  the  desire  of  worldly  good.  But  may  all  my  hopes 
be  in  the  happiness  of  the  world  to  come :  this  can  only  be 
through  help  in  Jesus  Christ ;  for  I  have  no  power  of  my  own 
by  which  I  should  walk  in  the  right  way.  I  am,  by  nature,  only 
deserving  of  pain ;  but  then,  merciful  God !  make  me  worthy  of 
happiness  and  of  thy  love.  0 !  thou  ocean  of  mercy,  I  am  a  sin- 
ful man.  I  cannot  worship  thee  aright;  keep  me  and  guide  me, 
according  to  the  truth." 

This  distrust  of  self,  naturally  begat  a  corresponding  depend- 
ence on  God.  He  seemed  to  feel,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  that 
every  good  and  every  perfect  gift  is  from  above,  and  cometh 
down  from  the  father  of  lights.  He  did  not  here  satisfy  himself 
with  the  general  expression,  that  it  is  in  God  that  we  live,  move 
and  have  our  being ;  but  he  regarded,  in  an  uncommon  degree, 
his  daily  food,  raiment,  protection,  happiness,  the  use  of  his 
senses,  the  continuation  of  health,  the  opportunities  which  the 
present  day  afforded  him  of  being  useful  to  his  countrymen,  as 
special  blessings  from  the  hand  of  God.  He  would  often  specify 
particulars  like  these  in  his  prayers,  when  his  heart  would  glow 
with  gratitude  to  the  great  Giver,  and  cast  itself  in  sweet  reliance 
on  Him  who  giveth  and  upbraideth  not.  He  had  a  happy  talent, 
both  in  his  prayers  and  instructions,  of  specifying  and  drawing 
useful  lessons  from  what,  in  common  language,  are  called  little 
things.  The  birds  of  the  air,  the  beasts  of  the  field,  the  starting 
vegetation,  the  opening  flower,  the  maturing  of  grain  and  fruits, 
the  blessing  of  water,  of  air,  of  rain  to  fructify  the  earth,  of  day 
and  night,  and  of  the  vicissitudes  of  the  seasons,  all  furnished 
him  with  ample  illustrations  of  the  unbounded  goodness  and 
mercy  of  God  toward  His  creatures.  When  addressing  the  Brah- 
muns,  he  would  frequently  point  to  a  tree,  a  flower,  or  any  sensi- 
ble object  which  might  be  before  him,  and  inquire,  Is  that  the 
workmanship  of  Shiva  or  Vishnoo  ?  Can  your  thirty-three  mil- 
lions of  gods  produce  an  object  like  that?  or,  if  made  to  their 
hands,  can  they  preserve  it  for  a  moment?  "Why,  then,  will  you 
pass  by  Him  who  created,  preserves  and  pervades  all  things,  and 
worship  the  lowest  works  of  his  hands  ?  If  addressing  the  poor, 


166  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

the  halt,  the  blind  and  maimed  of  the  asylum,  he  would  fre- 
quently point  to  a  sparrow  or  an  insect,  and  say,  "Behold  how 
insignificant  a  thing  is  the  peculiar  care  of  God!  And  will  he 
not  provide  for  you,  if  you  love  and  serve  him?  Seek  ye  not 
what  ye  shall  eat,  or  what  ye  shall  drink,  neither  be  of  doubtful 
mind;  for  all  these  things  do  the  heathen  seek  after." 

Babajee  too  well  understood  the  character  of  his  countrymen, 
not  to  perceive  that  covetousness  is  the  rock  on  which  they  are 
likely  to  make  shipwreck  of  faith.  He  seemed  to  watch  over  his 
own  heart,  and  smother  the  rising  desires  of  avarice  with  great 
vigilance.  He  never  expressed  the  least  dissatisfaction  respecting 
his  monthly  allowance ;  but  gratefully  received  it  as  a  means 
which  God  afforded  him,  through  the  benevolence  of  foreigners, 
to  do  good  to  his  deluded  people.  He  often  declared,  (what  every 
missionary  too  well  knows  to  be  true,)  that  there  is  no  stronger 
temptation  to  a  Hindoo  to  change  his  religion  than  the  hope  of 
worldly  gain ;  and  it  is  lamentable  to  say,  that  the  greater  part 
of  those,  concerning  whom  we  hoped  that  better  motives  induced 
them  to  embrace  Christianity,  exhibit,  in  this  respect,  a  grievous 
deficiency.  Instead  of  gratitude  to  God,  and  gratitude  to  the 
missionaries,  who  have,  for  their  benefit,  forsaken  all  that  was 
dear  in  country  and  home,  voluntarily  taken  up  their  residence 
in  an  insalubrious  climate,  and  are  fast  wearing  out  their  life  for 
their  good,  they  not  only  expect  a  support,  but  not  unfrequently 
manifest  the  most  trying  dissatisfaction  that  they  are  not  better 
supported.  They  often  feel  as  if  they  have  conferred  a  great 
favor  on  the  missionary  by  renouncing  their  own  religion,  and 
assisting  him  in  his  missionary  labors  among  themselves ;  and 
that  he  ought  not  to  be  slow  in  acknowledging  their  services  by 
a  good  reward.  Here  it  should  be  remarked,  that  the  state  of 
things  as  yet,  in  this  part  of  India,  is  such  as  almost  to  compel 
the  missionary  to  keep  his  converts  in  his  service.  This  strength- 
ens the  impression  that  converts  are  to  receive  a  support,  and 
not  unfrequently  leads  to  disappointment,  that  the  allowance  is 
not  more,  and  the  labors  less.  It  is  pleasing  to  be  able  to  make 
Babajee  an  exception.  He. not  only  sought  to  keep  himself  un- 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  167 

spotted  from  the  world,  but  he  was  not  slow  to  sound  the  alarm 
to  others. 

Babajee  loved  the  Bible.  He  had,  as  stated  before,  obtained  a 
general  knowledge  of  the  New  Testament  previous  to  his  con- 
version. Now  he  studied  the  sacred  oracles  spiritually,  admiring 
their  intrinsic  excellence,  and  their  peculiar  adaptation  to  the 
wants  of  man,  in  all  ages  and  nations.  He  was  particularly  in- 
terested in  a  religious  service  which  we  held  at  our  table  every 
evening,  immediately  after  tea.  It  was  for  prayer  and  mutual 
instruction.  We  first  read  a  chapter  in  the  New  Testament,  each 
reading  a  few  verses  in  turn,  prayed,  Babajee,  Dajaba,  and  myself, 
alternately,  and  then  took  up  some  subject  for  discussion,  or  I 
related  some  portion  of  the  Old  Testament  history  which  has  not 
yet  been  translated.  The  lively  interest  with  which  he  seized 
every  new  fact,  the  avidity  with  which  he  grasped  every  new 
idea,  afforded  his  teacher  a  rich  compensation  for  all  the  rebuffs 
and  discouragements  which  he  was  daily  meeting  from  the  op- 
position, the  listlessness  and  indifference  of  the  people  from 
without. 

I  have  said  that  Babajee  manifested  a  very  great  interest  for 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  his  own  people,  and  only  desired  to  live 
that  he  might  be  an  instrument  of  good  to  them.  This  he  re- 
garded as  his  field  of  labor ;  still,  his  heart,  in  the  true  spirit  of 
Christian  benevolence,  was  enlarged,  and  he  encircled  in  its  de- 
sires the  whole  human  family.  His  prayers  were  scarcely  more 
frequent  or  more  fervent  for  the  people  of  Hindoostan  than  they 
were  for  the  Chinese,  the  European,  the  African,  or  the  Ameri- 
can. In  imagination,  he  would  often  bring  in  the  day  of  millen- 
nial glory,  and  behold,  with  delight,  all  nations,  and  tongues,  and 
kindreds,  bowing  to  the  sceptre  of  Jesus,  ascribing  "  blessing  and 
honor,  glory  and  power,  unto  him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne, 
and  to  the  Lamb,  for  ever  and  ever."  He  listened  with  peculiar 
interest  to  the  accounts  which  were  given  him  of  the  efforts  which 
are  making  at  the  present  day  to  diffuse  the  blessings  of  Christi- 
anity throughout  the  world ;  and  heard  with  still  greater  pleasure 
what  progress  the  light  of  truth  has,  within  these  few  years, 


168  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

made  into  the  dark  dominions  of  idolatry.  This  light,  he  would 
say,  which  is  now  pouring  in  upon  the  nations  from  every  quar- 
ter, must  ere  long  illuminate  India.  The  history  of  the  recent 
benevolent  movements  in  America,  for  the  distribution  of  the 
word  of  God,  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  in  connection  with  the  account  of  the  rise  and  progress 
of  the  American  Republic,  greatly  excited  his  admiration.  He 
would  say,  "  that  is  a  land  of  promise,  a  chosen  inheritance  of 
God." 

The  last  internal  evidence  which  I  shall  mention,  that  this 
idolater  had  become  a  child  of  God,  is  the  desire  which  he  man- 
ifested to  be  freed  from  sin.  He  believed  that  genuine  happiness 
can  only  originate  from  holiness ;  and  that  sin  is  the  procuring 
cause  of  all  human  evil.  To  be  delivered  from  sin,  was,  in  his 
estimation,  a  passport  to  supreme  happiness.  Assurance  of 
hope,  and  perfection  in  holiness,  he  thought  attainable,  and  not 
only  a  consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished,  but  to  be  contin- 
ually sought  with  prayer  and  fasting.  In  scarcely  any  thing  did 
he  differ  more  from  the  heathen  around  him,  than  in  his  views 
of  death.  He  often  spoke  of  it  as  the  fruition  of  all  the  Chris- 
tian's hopes,  not  to  be  dreaded  but  desired.  The  idolater,  he 
would  say,  regards  death  as  the  greatest  possible  evil ;  for  in  it 
he  can  see  nothing  but  loss  and  destruction.  But  to  himself  it 
opened  the  portals  of  heaven,  and  showed  him  an  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory. 

The  foregoing  remarks  will  be  better  illustrated  by  the  follow- 
ing letter : 

"  Babajee,  called  by  the  will  of  God  to  be  a  servant  of  Jesus 
Christ,  to  the  church  of  God  in  Bombay,  and  to  all  in  every 
place  who  are  called  holy,  through  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
Mercy  and  peace  from  God  our  Father,  and  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  be  with  you.  Amen ! 

"  Brethren,  render  unto  the  Lord  Jesus,  whom  you  have  re- 
ceived, all  due  honor.  Deceive  not  yourselves  and  others  by 
taking  again  the  « old  man,'  whom  ye  have  crucified,  and  plung- 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  169 

ing  again  into  carnal  delights  and  sensuality.  If  you  still  in- 
dulge in  pastimes,  delight  in  exhibitions  of  folly,  and  practice 
the  arts  of  deception,  it  will  come  to  pass  that  when  the  heathen 
see  such  conduct,  they  will  reproach  you  and  us ;  they  will  re- 
proach our  teachers  and  our  Redeemer.  For  this  reason,  I 
entreat  that  your  demeanor  be  not  sensual.  For  they  who  only 
please  the  senses  are  carnal,  and  the  carnal  cannot  please  God. 
The  spirit  of  Christ  is  not  in  those  carnal  desires  which  men, 
while  in  the  body,  seek  to  fulfill.  And  whosoever  hath  not  the 
spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  not  of  God,  but  of  the  devil ;  and  if  he 
be  not  of  God,  he  will  be  a  partaker  of  the  everlasting  pains  of 
hell.  Before  becoming  Christians,  you  indeed  walked  accord- 
ing to  the  flesh.  And  now  you  profess  to  have  cast  off  the  nat- 
ural man,  and  to  have  become  Christians.  Let  me  ask  you, 
have  you  done  this  in  mind,  or  only  in  body  and  in  name? 
Beloved  brethren,  whosoever  in  appearance  and  name  only 
becomes  a  Chistian,  but  whose  mind  is  not  Christian,  the  Holy 
Spirit  has  no  abode  in  his  heart ;  he  is  not,  therefore,  worthy  of 
salvation :  it  were  better  that  a  mill-stone  were  tied  to  his  neck, 
and  he  cast  into  the  sea.  Whoever  liveth  according  to  the  flesh, 
is  worthy  of  death.  Brethren,  if  through  the  Spirit  ye  do  mor- 
tify the  deeds  of  the  flesh,  ye  shall  live ;  '  for  as  many  as  are  led 
by  the  spirit  of  God,  they  are'  the  sons  of  God.'  If  ye  are 
called  of  Christ,  behold  our  Savior,  and,  like  him,  become  sepa- 
rated from  the  world.  He  indulged  in  no  vain  amusements  or 
gratifications.  He  was  a  sojourner  in  this  world.  Direct  your 
mind  to  him  and  reflect.  Was  he  carnal  or  spiritual  ?  If  you 
find  that  he  was  spiritual,  then  honor  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth, 
and  with  your  whole  strength,  and  take  upon  you  his  name. 
Whosoever  nameth  the  name  of  Christ,  let  him  examine  him- 
self. For  he  that  doth  not  anxiously  try  himself,  shall  not  con- 
tinue to  the  end.  That  you  may  continue  to  the  end,  and  be 
acceptable  to  Christ,  is  my  desire.  This  I  ask  of  you,  that  you 
may  preserve  yourselves  through  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  be 
saved,  and  eternally  happy.  He  that  examines  his  own  heart, 
understands  what  the  'minding  of  the  things  of  the  spirit* 


170  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

meaneth,  and  he  ordereth  his  conversation  cautiously  before  the 
people.  Moreover,  brethren,  as  you  are  now  Christ's,  you  must 
teach  his  commandments.  Still,  I  assure  you  that  your  daily  walk 
5s  of  more  importance  than  mere  verbal  instruction.  This,  in  my 
opinion,  is  more  useful  to  bring  men  to  believe :  therefore,  it  is 
written  to  you,  '  Be  not  angry,  but,  on  deliberation,  choose  what 
seemeth  good,'  and  reject  what  is  evil.  Ye  are  joined  to  the 
church  of  Christ ;  walk,  therefore,  according  to  the  laws  of  the 
church  and  of  God,  that  you  may  not  bring  a  stigma  on  the 
church.  For,  if  your  conduct  before  the  people  be  not  good, 
they  will  indeed  suppose  that  all  Christians  are  hypocrites." 

The  following  correspondence  too  well  illustrates  Babajee's 
growing  piety  and  increasing  desire  of  usefulness  to  be  omitted. 
It  breathes  much  of  the  spirit  of  the  writer.  The  brother,  the 
Christian,  I  had  almost  said  the  apostle,  is  here  seen,  animated 
in  his  work  by  motives  the  most  noble  that  can  warm  the  heart 
of  man ;  exhorting  his  brethren  to  mutual  love,  self-denial,  dili- 
gence, humility,  and  fervor  in  the  work  of  the  Lord;  humble 
and  docile  as  a  child,  but  strong  in  the  faith  as  a  full  grown  man 
in  Christ.  The  animated  style,  simple  language,  and  softened 
spirit  which  prevades  the  whole,  is  a  pleasing  specimen  of  his 
daily  deportment  among  a  crooked  and  perverse  generation. 

LETTER  TO  MR.  ALLEN. 

"  To  the  moat  excellent  Allen  Sahib,  blessed  of  God  through 
Jesus  Christ,  Babajee,  a  door-keeper  of  the  house  of  God,  who 
stands  at  the  door  humbly  begging  for  the  bread  and  water  of 
life,  sendeth  greeting:  I  entreat  that  you  will  send  me  a  letter  of 
instruction  and  exhortation,  that  a  poor  servant  of  Jesus  Christ 
may  be  confirmed  in  the  true  faith.  The  chief  intelligence 
which  I  have  to  communicate  is,  that  my  love  of  this  world,  by 
the  exercise  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  is  continually  diminishing, 
and  that  my  love  to  God  is  increasing  more  and  more,  and  that 
my  old  man  is,  on  account  of  sin,  crucified  with  the  body  of 
Christ.  I  confide  myself  entirely  to  him.  I  take  hold  of  the 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  171 

hand  of  my  heavenly  Father.  Whithersoever  he  leadeth,  there 
will  I  go.  All  the  right  feelings  which  I  have  are  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  I  search  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  daily  examine 
myself  concerning  what  I  do,  and  what  I  ought  to  do.  I  am 
distressed  on  account  of  sin,  and  repent,  and  daily  ask  of  God 
forgiveness  for  all  my  past  sins.  As  the  watchman  puts  on  his 
armor,  and  vigilantly  performs  his  duty,  so  I  put  on  the  armor 
of  self-examination,  and  daily  endeavor  to  watch  over  myself. 
I  fully  believe  that  I  cannot  be  saved  by  my  own  works,  but  by 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  This  is  my  hope.  Formerly  I  was  an 
adulterer,  false,  deceitful,  and  an  idolater.  In  these  things  I  then 
took  delight ;  but  now,  through  the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ,  I  am 
disgusted,  yea,  I  hate  them.  Now  I  love  whatever  I  believe  to 
be  pleasing  to  God,  and  hate  what  is  offensive  to  him.  I  en- 
deavor to  avoid  what  is  forbidden  in  the  sacred  Scriptures.  I 
pray  and  implore  the  assistance  of  God,  and  search  the  Scrip- 
tures daily,  that  I  may  be  able  to  give  instruction,  according  to 
the  command  of  Christ.  I  gratefully  acknowledge  the  loving 
kindness  of  God,  and  am  not  unmindful  of  the  kindness  of  those 
by  whose  instrumentality  I  have  been  converted.  The  instruc- 
tions of  Graves  Sahib,  that  true  worshiper  of  God,  are  particu- 
larly grateful  to  me ;  for  by  them  the  knotty  doubts  of  the  mind 
are  solved,  and  the  heart  gradually  is  made  pure.  By  his  means 
my  soul  was  first  distressed  on  account  of  sin ;  by  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ  I  was  again  made  joyful. 

"  Since  leaving  Bombay  for  Ahmednuggur,  I  have  instructed 
my  wife  in  the  word  of  God.,  Before  the  death  of  Mr.  Hervey 
she  reviled  me,  and  scornfully  rejected  Christ.  From  that  time 
she  became  penitent,  began  to  pray,  and  asked  baptism.  I  hope 
her  heart  is  now  renewed. 

"  In  the  latter  part  of  June,  I  made  a  short  preaching  tour, 
when  I  visited  five  or  seven  villages,  and  told  the  people  of  Jesus 
Christ.  I  now  feel  that  if  I  am  to  live  long  in  this  world,  I  de- 
sire to  live  only  for  Christ.  If  I  am  to  go  to  another  world,  I 
desire  to  live  with  him  for  ever  there. 

"  Oh,  my  brother !  I  cannot  love  Christ  as  I  ought ;  for  by 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

reason  of  sin  I  am  weak.  "While  an  enemy  of  God,  he,  through 
mercy,  that  I  might  be  saved,  assumed  a  vile,  perishable  human 
body,  and  did  for  me  what  I  was  bound  to  do  for  myself.  Had 
I  died  in  my  sins,  and  perished,  God  would  still  be  glorified  in 
the  multitude  of  his  creatures.  I  am  indeed  bound  to  love  God, 
who  is  love.  May  he,  who  has  done  so  much  for  my  salvation, 
enable  me  to  love  him. 

"  I  am  ignorant,  sinful,  depraved.  By  my  own  works  I  can- 
not be  saved.  I  cast  myself  into  the  arms  of  God  my  Father. 
If  it  be  his  will,  he  will  save  me.  If  he  do  not  save  me,  I  can- 
not be  saved.  If  he  do  not  keep  me  from  evil,  I  must  fall  into 
evil. 

"  Brothers  Dajaba  and  Moraba  are  with  you.  Confirm  them 
in  the  right  way.  I  desire  that  they  may  well  instruct  the  Hin- 
doo people.  I  pray  that  they  may  be  new  men.  To  teach  us 
who  are  ignorant,  to  confirm  us  in  the  right  way,  and  bring  us 
to  believe  on  Jesus  Christ,  is  your  proper  work.  "We  are  infants, 
and  must  have  the  milk  of  the  word.  "We  cannot  bear  strong 
meat,  if  you  give  it  us.  Wherefore,  feed  us  with  milk,  and  we 
shall,  by  little  and  little,  be  strengthened  into  manhood,  and,  be- 
coming men,  we  may  be  fed  with  meat.  Then  shall  we  become 
strong  in  the  faith,  and  be  saved  by  Jesus  Christ.  May  peace 
and  comfort  from  the  Triune  God,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost, 
be  with  you  for  ever.  Amen ! 

"  0  God !  merciful  Father,  I  am  sinful,  ignorant  and  foolish ; 
I  have  written,  because  my  brother  desired  it ;  but  I  have  not 
been  able  to  write  in  a  proper  manner.  I  desire  that  this  letter 
may  not  be  useless.  I  ask  not  on  my  own  account,  but  for  the 
sake  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  the  writing  of  this  letter  may  be  of 
some  utility." 

"  To  the  Rev.  Mr.  Graves,  well-wisher  of  our  people,  and  to 
Madam  Graves,  both  of  the  same  parent  in  Christ,  I,  Christian 
Babajee,  and  my  wife,  write.  Peace  and  comfort  from  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  be  with  you.  Amen ! 

"  "We  are  tender  plants,  planted  through  the  mercy  of  Jesus 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

Christ,  by  your  hands.  That  these  plants  may  grow,  become 
trees,  and  bear  much  fruit,  they  must  be  moistened  at  the  roots, 
and  sprinkled  with  water  from  above.  I  write  unto  you,  that, 
from  your  instrumentality,  we  may  derive  assistance,  whereby 
we  may  increase  in  love  and  faith,  and  bring  forth  fruit,  double, 
treble,  quadruple,  and  a  thousand  fold." 

LETTER  TO   DAJABA. 

"  Babajee,  a  servant  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  the  will  of 
God  our  Savior,  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  our  hope,  to  Da- 
jaba,  a  beloved  child  of  God  through  faith :  Grace,  mercy,  and 
peace,  humility,  pardon,  joy,  and  comfort,  be  to  you  from  God 
our  Father,  and  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Dajaba,  my  beloved  brother,  the  letter  which  you  so  kindly 
sent  me  by  Mr.  Bead,  was  received  in  good  tune.  I  cannot 
express  the  pleasure  which  I  felt  in  the  perusal  of  it.  By  such 
letters  my  faith  in  Christ  will  be  strengthened. 

"  God  has  begotten  us  through  the  Holy  Ghost,  according  to 
his  purpose,  and  on  account  of  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ : 
therefore  we  are  dearer  to  each  other  than  brethren.  Among 
brothers  there  is  often  strife,  deception,  mutual  abuse,  unfaith- 
fulness, disputes  about  their  fathers'  property.  But  among  us, 
who  have  been  born  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  there  must  be  no  decep- 
tion, or  strife,  or  covetousness.  We  must  become  gosawees* 
through  Jesus  Christ;  not,  however,  such  gosawees  as  are  daily 
seen  about  us  here.  We  must  be  true  gosawees ;  that  is,  have 
the  mastery  over  our  passions.  We  must  eradicate  and  cast 
from  us  all  worldly  hopes,  and  hope  only  in  God,  and  leave  our- 
selves entirely  in  his  hands :  then  God,  our  Father,  will,  through 
Jesus  Christ,  account  us  as  innocent.  You  observed,  my  brother, 
in  your  letter,  (and  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  Christian  shas- 

*  A  gosawee  is  a  devotee  who  has  forsaken  the  world,  goes  about  almost  naked, 
his  body  besmeared  with  ashes,  lives  on  the  charity  of  the  people,  and  professes  to 
be  very  holy.  He  pretends  to  instruct  the  people  in  a  knowledge  of  God;  but 
really  does  no  more  than  to  repeat  the  names  of  the  gods,  and  mutter  over  some 
unintelligible  jargon,  which  the  stupid  populace  suppose  to  be  muntras  or  incan- 
tations. 


1« 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 


tras,)  that '  we  are  the  body  of  Christ,'  and  ought  therefore  to  love 
one  another. 

"  Above  all,  my  brother,  read  much,  pray  much,  be  humble, 
communicate  instruction,  rebuke  with  soft  words  any  thing 
wrong  which  you  may  discover  in  our  brethren  or  sisters ;  and, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  peace  be  with  you." 

The  following  letter  was  addressed  to  Mr.  Graves,  while  re- 
cently in  America : 

"  Our  will- wisher  and  respected  father,  Mr.  Graves,  and  re- 
spected mother,  Mrs.  Graves,  Babajee,  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ, 
with  his  wife,  presents  a  great  salutation,  and  begs  to  write  a 
letter  of  respect.  "We  have  given  ourselves  an  offering,  through 
Christ,  into  the  hand  of  God  the  Father ;  and,  through  faith,  by 
the  Spirit,  we  remain  in  the  hope  of  being  justified  by  the  right- 
eousness of  Jesus  Christ.  And  we  who  are  new-born,  are  like 
ignorant  children;  but  may  we  become  mature  in  faith,  and 
stand  against  the  wiles  of  the  devil,  the  slanderer,  to  fight  against 
him !  May  God  array  us  with  his  heavenly  armor !  that  is,  may 
he  bind  our  loins  about  with  truth ;  put  upon  us  the  breast-plate 
of  righteousness,  and  cause  our  feet  to  be  shod  with  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  gospel  of  peace ;  and,  above  all,  put  into  our  hands 
the  shield  of  faith,  wherewith  we  may  be  able  to  quench  all  the 
fiery  darts  of  the  wicked  one.  May  he  also  put  upon  our  heads 
the  hemlet  of  salvation,  and  put  into  our  hands  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God !  And  may  he  keep  us,  always 
praying  with  all  prayer  and  supplication,  at  all  times  in  the 
Spirit !  And  for  the  same  purpose,  that  we  may  be  awake  with 
all  diligence,  in  prayer  for  all  saints.  We  ask  you  both  to 
remember  us,  as  well  as  yourselves,  in  prayer  to  God.  May 
there  be  peace  and  love,  with  faith,  among  all  the  brethren,  from 
God  the  Father,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  May  grace  be  with 
all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity.  Amen ! 

"  Please  present  to  the  church  the  salutation  of  me,  a  fallen 
one." 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  175 


CHAPTER    XII. 

Hindooism  Debasing  —  Papers  illustrating  Babajee's  Mode  of  Thinking  —  Occasion 
of  Writing  them — Hindoo  Notions  of  God. 

THE  inquiring  reader  will  desire  to  know  what  is  the  mode  of 
thinking  and  reasoning  of  a  man  who  has,  for  forty  years,  been 
fed  on  the  fooleries  of  Hindoo  superstition.  He  had  drawn  in 
with  his  mother's  milk  the  deadly  bane  of  idolatry;  all  his  early 
impressions,  and  notions  of  right  and  wrong,  were  formed  on  a 
false  standard.  At  forty  years  old  he  begins  to  reason — finds  all 
his  views,  feelings,  and  opinions,  concerning  religion  and  moral 
duty,  wrong — his  heart  corrupt,  his  understanding  darkened,  his 
conscience  stupefied,  and  all  his  laborious  and  costly  atonements 
unavailing ;  all  that  had  been  done,  was  to  be  undone.  It  is  im- 
possible for  one  reared  in  a  Christian  land,  fully  to  estimate  the 
influence  which  a  heathen  education  exerts  on  the  mental  faculties 
and  the  moral  feelings  of  the  idolater.  "We  talk,  and  very  justly, 
too,  of  the  infinite  advantage  of  a  right  early  education;  and 
when  we  contrast  the  character  of  the  man  thus  educated  with 
that  of  him  who  grows  up  amidst  the  deadly  influences  of  infi- 
delity, or  of  thoughtless  gayety,  or  the  contempt  of  all  moral 
obligations,  we  see  a  difference  which  gives  us  some  remote  idea 
of  the  influence  of  the  education  received  by  a  heathen  child. 
Yet  the  most  profligate  family  in  Christendom  are,  more  or  less, 
under  restraints  imposed  by  Christianity.  They  are  not  debased 
•by  the  worship  of  a  stone  or  a  reptile.  They  have  many  right 
views  of  God,  and  of  duty — many  good  maxims  and  customs 
which  cannot  fail  to  produce  some  influence,  though  latent  it  may 
be,  on  the  mind.  Hence  the  worst  man  in  a  Christian  land  pos- 
sesses an  advantage  over  the  best  in  a  heathen  land. 

These  remarks  will  enable  the  reader  more  justly  to  appreciate 
the  following  specimens  of  Babajee's  theological  views.  I  add 
them,  not  for  the  merit  which  they  contain  in  themselves,  but,  as 
I  have  done  many  other  things  in  this  sketch,  to  show,  for  the 


176  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

«    ' 

encouragement  of  the  friends  of  missions,  what  a  bigoted  Hin- 
doo may  become,  under  the  teachings  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  and, 
seeing  this,  that  they  may  give  more  liberally,  and  pray  more  fer- 
vently, that  God  would  supply  the  place  of  his  departed  servant 
with  a  thousand  as  faithful  and  devout. 

PROOFS  OP  CREATION  WITHOUT  THE  AID  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

"  If  you  say  the  universe  was  from  eternity,  let  me  ask,  are  not 
men,  beasts,  birds,  &c.,  of  the  creation  ?  Surely  these  are  a  part 
of  creation.  This  being  allowed,  who  will  say  that  the  universe 
is  from  eternity?  These,  which  are  a  part  of  the  universe,  are 
not  from  eternity.  Furthermore,  if  all  things  are  from  eternity, 
how  comes  it  to  pass  that  they  are  subject  to  change?  Hence  it 
appears  that  the  universe  was  created. 

"  My  second  proof  is  this :  It  is  known  to  be  a  principle  that 
when  water  is  made  turbid  by  agitation,  the  heavier  particles 
will,  by  the  power  of  their  own  gravity,  fall,  and  collect  at  the 
bottom,  while  the  light  particles  rise.  According  to  this  princi- 
ple, the  earth  seems  to  have  been  formed.  For,  by  digging  into 
the  earth  there  are  found  to  be  layers  of  earth,  stone,  &c.,  one 
above  another.  The  same  is  found  to  be  true  on  the  tops  of  the 
highest  mountains.  On  the  summits  of  these  mountains  are 
found  petrifactions  of  shells  and  fish.  Hence  it  appears  not  only 
that  the  earth  was  created,  but  that  it  was  formed  out  of  a  thick 
watery  consistence. 

"  The  third  argument  is  drawn  from  the  import  of  the  word 
shrustee  (universe).  This  is  a  significant  term,  viz:  that  which 
is  created.  The  term  shrustee  cannot,  therefore,  be  applied  to 
that  which  is  from  eternity.  If  this  term  may  properly  be 
applied  only  to  things  which  appear,  then  it  is  evident  they  were 
created. 

"Fourthly,  it  is  said  in  the  Rig-veda,  'Before  the  creation  of 
the  universe  the  Spirit  existed  alone.'  Hence  it  appears  that  the 
universe  is  not  eternal,  but  was  created  by  Jehovah,  who  is  from 
everlasting  to  everlasting.  With  him  there  is  neither  beginning 
nor  end. 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

"  The  fifth  argument  is  this :  If  the  world  had  existed  from 
eternity,  the  earth  would  ere  this  have  become  one  great  plain, 
by  means  of  rains.  But  we  still  see  many  very  high  mountains." 

EXISTENCE   OF   GOD. 

" Do  you  say  there  is  no  God  ?  Then  hear:  I  exist,  you  exist, 
and  we  are  conscious  of  our  existence.  We  have  the  faculty  of 
speaking,  hearing,  walking,  and  thinking;  we  have  understand- 
ing, reflection,  and  knowledge.  Whence  are  all  these?  And 
who  formed  us  in  the  womb  ?  Who  protected  and  nourished 
us  then  ?  Our  mother  had  no  such  power.  Who  then  did  pre- 
serve us  ?  Who  afterwards  nourished  our  limbs,  by  means  of 
food  taken  in  at  the  mouth?  Did  our  mother?  Who  forms 
the  chicken  in  the  shell  ?  If  you  cannot  answer,  I  will  tell  you. 
He  who  gave  us  existence  and  protected  us  in  the  womb — he 
alone  is  God,  and  self-existent. 

"  I  mention  another  proof:  By  whose  power  is  this  globe  kept  in 
the  firmament  ?  If  you  say  by  its  own,  then  I  reply,  the  earth  is 
but  an  inanimate  body,  and  it  does  not  contain  in  itself  the  power 
of  remaining  in  the  expanse  of  the  heavens.  If  you  throw  a 
stone  or  a  piece  of  earth  into  the  air,  does  it  by  any  power  in 
itself  remain  in  the  air,  or  does  it  fall?  By  whose  power,  then, 
is  the  earth  sustained  ?  If  you  cannot  reply,  I  will  tell  you.  It 
is  upheld  by  the  Almighty  God.  This  is  a  clear  proof  of  the 
existence  of  God. 

"  The  skill  displayed  in  the  contrivance  of  the  human  body, 
furnishes  another  argument  of  the  existence  of  God.  For  ex- 
ample, the  joints  of  the  hands  and  feet  will  not  turn  back.  Here 
appears  a  happy  design.  Were  it  otherwise,  one  could  not  lay 
hold  of  an  object  with  the  hand,  or  do  any  kind  of  business.  He 
•made  the  mouth,  but  did  not  put  it  in  the  hinder  part  of  the 
head,  for  whatever  is  put  into  the  mouth  must  be  put  in  by  the 
hand,  in  front.  Eyes  were  made  for  the  body ;  and  in  the  eye 
are  films,  or  humors,  in  which  there  is  no  blood,  but  water.  The 
design  displayed  in  this  appears  to  be,  that  the  light  must  enter 

through  the  water,  and  by  this  means  external  objects  be  made 
12 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

• 


to  appear.  The  eyes  were  not  placed  in  the  back  part  of  the 
head — for,  in  that  case,  no  one  could  see  what  he  does  with  his 
hands. 

"  God  gave  to  man  two  ears.  These  he  did  not  place  in  the 
forehead,  or  in  any  place  but  on  the  side  of  the  head.  In  this 
there  appears  design,  that  he  may  hear  sound  from  every  direc- 
tion. Hence,  from  the  skill  and  intelligence  displayed  in  the 
construction  of  the  human  body,  it  appears  there  is  an  infinite 
and  all-wise  Being." 

THE  ETERNITY  OF  GOD. 

"  Something  exists,  and  therefore  something  must  have  existed 
without  a  beginning ;  and  if  that  something  exists  without  a  be- 
ginning, then  will  it  not  exist  eternally?  From  this  something 
the  universe  originated.  For  it  is  certain  there  is  no  power  in 
the  material  universe  to  create  itself.  Hence  it  appears  that 
there  was  an  agent.  Moreover,  all  things  in  the  universe  con- 
tinue to  move  on  with  the  same  regularity  and  precision  as  they 
formerly  did.  From  this  it  is  evident  there  must  still  be  a  gov- 
ernor ;  and  if  He  is,  and  was,  he  will  be  a  governor  to  all  eter- 
nity. Another  argument  which  might  be  adduced,  is,  that  God 
is  a  Spirit,  and  therefore  will  not  cease  to  be." 

The  above  is  the  commencement  of  a  series  of  papers  which 
Babajee  began  to  write  on  theological  subjects.  The  specimens 
here  given  will  suffice  to  show  what  were  his  notions  of  a  Deity ; 
and  when  the  above  views  of  the  Supreme  Being  are  compared 
with  the  vague,  incongruous,  and  unworthy  notions  entertained 
by  the  Hindoos  in  general ;  and  when  it  is  considered  that  these 
are  the  views  of  one  who  but  a  few  months  ago  emerged  from 
the  depths  of  a  most  debasing  system  of  idolatry,  the  pious 
reader  will  magnify  the  grace  of  God,  which  alone  brought  him 
from  nature's  darkness  into  His  marvelous  light,  The  following 
extracts  are  taken  principally  from  "Mr.  Ward's  View  of  the 
Hindoos,"  and  as  they  very  correctly  illustrate  the  indefinite  and 
unworthy  notions  of  the  idolaters  of  India  in  reference  to  the 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

t 

Deity,  as  well  as  the  revolting  character  of  their  own  inferior  di- 
vinities, I  here  quote  them,  in  order  to  bring  out  the  contrast: 

"No  question  occurs  so  frequently  in  the  Hindoo  shastras  as 
this :  What  is  God  ?  To  know  whether  He  exists  or  not,  page 
upon  page  has  been  written,  and  this  question  has  been  agitated 
in  every  period  of  Hindoo  history,  wherever  two  or  three  pundits 
happened  to  meet,  with  a  solicitude,  but,  at  the  same  time,  with 
an  uncertainty,  which  carries  us  at  once  to  the  apostolic  declara- 
tion, '  the  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God.'  Some  pundits  call 
Him  the  invisible  and  ever-blessed;  others  conceive  of  him  as 
possessing  form ;  others  have  the  idea  that  he  exists  like  an  in- 
conceivably small  atom;  sometimes  he  is  male,  at  other  times 
female ;  sometimes  both  male  and  female,  producing  a  world  by 
conjugal  union;  sometimes  the  elements  assume  his  place,  and  at 
other  times  he  is  a  deified  hero.  Thus  in  three  hundred  and 
thirty  millions  of  forms,  or  names,  this  nation,  in  the  emphatical 
language  of  St.  Paul,  has  been,  from  age  to  age,  'feeling  after' 
the  Supreme  Being,  like  men  groping  '  in  the  region  and  shadow 
of  death ;'  and,  after  so  many  centuries,  the  question  is  as  much 
undetermined  as  ever,  what  is  God? 

"  One  day,  in  conversation  with  the  Sanskritu  head  pundit  of 
the  college  of  Fort  William,  on  the  subject  of  God,  this  man, 
who  is  truly  learned  in  his  own  shastras,  gave  the  author,  from 
one  of  their  books,  the  following  parable :  *  In  a  certain  country 
there  existed  a  village  of  blind  men,  who  had  heard  of  an  amaz- 
ing animal  called  the  elephant,  of  the  shape  of  which,  however, 
they  could  procure  no  idea.  One  day  an  elephant  passed  through 
the  place ;  the  villagers  crowded  to  the  spot  where  the  animal 
was  standing ;  and  one  of  them  seized  his  trunk,  another  his  ear, 
another  his  tail,  another  one  of  his  legs.  After  thus  endeavoring 
•to  gratify  their  curiosity,  they  returned  into  the  village,  and  sit- 
ting down  together,  began  to  communicate  their  ideas  on  the 
shape  of  the  elephant  to  the  villagers.  The  man  who  had  seized 
his  trunk  said,  he  thought  this  animal  must  be  like  the  body  of 
the  plantain  tree ;  he  who  had  touched  his  ear,  was  of  opinion 
that  he  was  like  the  winnowing  fan ;  the  man  who  had  laid  hold 


180  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  -,  V 

of  his  tail  said,  he  thought  he  must  resemble  a  snake ;  and  he 
who  had  caught  his  leg,  declared  he  must  he  like  a  pillar.  An 
old  blind  man  of  some  judgment  was  present,  who,  though 
greatly  perplexed  in  attempting  to  reconcile  these  jarring  notions, 
at  length  said :  You  have  all  been  to  examine  this  animal ;  and 
what  you  report,  therefore,  cannot  be  false.  I  suppose,  then, 
that  the  part  resembling  the  plantain  tree  must  be  his  trunk ; 
what  you  thought  similar  to  a  fan,  must  be  his  ear;  the  part  like 
a  snake,  must  be  the  tail;  and  that  like  a  pillar,  must  be  his  leg. 
In  this  way,  the  old  man,  uniting  all  their  conjectures,  made  out 
something  of  the  form  of  the  elephant.'  Respecting  God,  added 
the  pundit,  we  are  all  blind;  none  of  us  have  seen  him;  those 
who  wrote  the  shastras,  like  the  old  blind  man,  have  collected  all 
the  reasonings  and  conjectures  of  mankind  together,  and  have 
endeavored  to  form  some  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  Divine  Being. 
It  is  an  irresistible  argument  in  favor  of  the  majesty,  simplicity, 
and  truth  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  that  nothing  of  this  uncertainty 
has  been  left  on  the  mind  of  the  most  illiterate  Christian.  How- 
ever mysterious  the  subject,  we  never  hear  such  a  question  start' 
ed  in  Christian  countries :  What  is  God  ? 

"  The  doctrine  of  a  plurality  of  gods,  with  their  consequent 
intrigues,  criminal  amours,  quarrels,  and  stratagems  to  counter- 
act each  other,  has  produced  the  most  fatal  effects  on  the  minds 
of  men.  Can  we  expect  a  people  to  be  better  than  their  gods  ? 
Brahmu  was  inflamed  with  evil  desires  towards  his  own  daugh- 
ter. Vishnoo,  when  incarnate  as  Bamunu,  deceived  king  Bulee, 
and  deprived  him  of  his  kingdom.  Shiva's  wife  was  constantly 
jealous  on  account  of  his  amours,  and  charged  him  with  asso- 
ciating with  the  women  of  a  low  caste :  the  story  of  Shiva  and 
Mohinee,  a  female  form  of  Vishnoo,  is  shockingly  indelicate. 
Vrihusputee,  the  spiritual  guide  of  the  gods,  committed  a  rape 
on  his  eldest  brother's  wife.  Indru  was  guilty  of  dishonoring 
the  wife  of  his  spiritual  guide.  Sooryu  ravished  a  virgin  named 
Koontee.  Yumu,  in  a  passion,  kicked  his  own  mother,  who 
cursed  him,  and  afflicted  him  with  a  swelled  leg,  which  to  this 
day  the  worms  are  constantly  devouring.  Ugnee  was  inflamed 


*••   '  ...» 

'     :'  '» 

INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 


with  evil  desires  towards  six  virgins,  the  daughters  of  as  many 
sages,  but  was  overawed  by  the  presence  of  his  wife.  Buluramu 
was  a  great  drunkard.  Yayoo  was  cursed  by  Dukshu  for  mak- 
ing his  daughters  crooked  when  they  refused  his  embraces.  He 
is  also  charged  with  a  scandalous  connection  with  a  female  mon- 
key. When  Vuroonn  was  walking  in  his  own  heaven,  he  was 
so  smitten  with  the  charms  of  Oorvushee,  a  courtezan,  that, 
after  a  long  contest,  she  was  scarcely  able  to  extricate  herself 
from  him.  Krishna's  thefts,  wars,  and  adulteries,  are  so  numer- 
ous, that  his  whole  history  seems  to  be  one  uninterrupted  series. 
In  the  images  of  Kalee,  she  is  represented  as  treading  on  the 
breast  of  her  husband.  Lukshmee  and  Luruswatee,  the  wives 
of  Vishnoo,  were  continually  quarreling.  It  is  worthy  of  in- 
quiry, how  the  world  is  governed  by  these  gods,  more  wicked 
than  men,  that  we  may  be  able  to  judge  how  far  they  can  be  the 
object  of  faith,  hope,  and  affection.  Let  us  open  the  Hindoo 
sacred  writings ;  here  we  see  the  Creator  and  Preserver  perpetu- 
ally counteracting  each  other.  Sometimes  the  Preserver  is  de- 
stroying, and  at  other  times  the  Destroyer  is  preserving.  On  a 
certain  occasion,  Shiva  granted  to  the  great  enemy  of  the  gods, 
Ravanu,  a  blessing,  which  set  all  their  heavens  in  an  uproar,  and 
drove  the  three  hundred  and  thirty  millions  of  gods  into  a  state 
of  desperation.  Brahmu  created  Koombhukurnu,  a  monster 
larger  than  the  whole  island  of  Lunka,  but  was  obliged  to  doom 
him  to  an  almost  perpetual  sleep,  to  prevent  his  producing  a 
universal  famine.  This  god  is  often  represented  as  bestowing  a 
blessing,  to  remove  the  effects  of  which  Yishnoo  is  obliged  to 
become  incarnate ;  nay,  these  effects  have  not  in  some  cases  been 
removed  till  all  the  gods  have  been  thrown  into  confusion,  and 
all  the  elements  seized  and  turned  against  the  Creator,  the  Pre- 
server, and  the  Reproducer.  "Wlien  some  giant,  blessed  by 
Brahmu,  has  destroyed  the  creation,  Vishnoo  and  Shiva  have 
been  applied  to ;  but  they  have  confessed  they  could  do  nothing 
for  the  tottering  universe. 

"  Reverence  for  the  gods,  especially  among  the  poor,  as  might 
be  expected,  does  not  exceed  their  merits ;  yet  it  is  a  shocking 

' 


182  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

fact,  that  language  like  the  following  should  be  used  respecting 
what  the  Hindoos  suppose  to  He  the  providence  which  governs 
the  world.  When  it  thunders  awfullly,  respectable  Hindoos  say, 
'Oh !  the  gods  are  giving  us  a  bad  day;'  the  lowest  orders  say, 
'  The  rascally  gods  are  dying.'  During  a  heavy  rain,  a  woman  of 
respectable  caste  frequently  says,  'Let  the  gods  perish!  my 
clothes  are  all  wet.'  A  man  of  low  caste,  says, ' These  rascally  gods 
are  sending  more  rain.' 

"In  witnessing  such  a  state  of  gross  ignorance,  on  a  subject  of 
infinite  moment  to  men,  how  forcibly  do  we  feel  the  truth  and 
the  wisdom  of  the  declartion  of  the  Divine  Author  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion, '  This  is  life  eternal,  to  know  Thee,  the  only  true 
God.' " 

There  were  among  his  papers  thoughts  on  justification,  and  on 
regeneration,  which  do  him  equal  credit.  We  give  an  extract 
from  the  latter : 

REGENERATION. 

"  'Jesus  answering  said  unto  him,  Except  a  man  be  born  again, 
he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

"All  men  are  sinners,  and  therefore  cannot  worship  a  holy 
God  acceptably.  For  a  holy  God  can  only  be  worshiped  in  holi- 
ness and  truth.  Therefore,  unless  there  be  a  regeneration  of  the 
heart,  neither  you,  nor  I,  nor  any  one,  can  worship  God  accept- 
ably. Without  purity  of  heart,  no  expedient  for  obtaining 
eternal  blessednes  will  be  of  any  avail.  But  the  heart  is  full  of 
imcleanness,  as  it  is  written  in  Romans  i:  29-32.  How  can  a 
mind  rendered  impure  by  such  things  worship  the  PURE  God  ? 
It  cannot  be.  Therefore,  from  such  impurity  our  minds  must  be 
cleansed.  Te  worshipers  of  idols!  what  method  have  you  for 
purifying  the  heart?  One  may  repeat  names,  mortify  his  body, 
dwell  in  the  wilderness,  give  in  charity,  go  on  pilgrimage  to  holy 
places,  wrap  himself  in  meditation,  bathe,  worship,  and  sacrifice : 
if  his  heart  be  not  pure,  it  is  all  in  vain.  These  remedies  can  be 
of  no  use  to  sinners  in  cleansing  the  heart.  The  Hindoo  has  no 
idea  of  religion  as  connected  with  purity  of  heart.  He  has 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  183 

much  to  say  of  persons  being  holy  or  unholy,  pure  or  impure ;  but 
as  this  refers  only  to  ceremonial  cleanness,  the  heart  has  nothing 
to  do  with  it.  A  liar  or  an  adulterer  may  be  pure,  if  he  have 
bathed  and  performed  the  requsite  rites,  while  the  man  of  pure 
heart  may  be  unholy ;  and  if  the  heart  were  once  holy,  they 
would  not  be  needed ;  consequently,  they  are  altogether  useless." 

The  following  paper  has  interested  me  too  much  to  be  allowed 
to  pass  unnoticed.  If  I  have  not  perused  it  with  undue  partial- 
ity, the  pious  Christian,  and  the  minister  of  the  Gospel,  will  de- 
rive from  it  both  pleasure  and  profit.  A  depraved  son  of  India, 
and  a  corrupt  priest  of  Brahrnu,  may,  by  the  power  and  grace  of 
God,  become  his  teacher  in  the  momentous  concerns  of  the  soul's 
salvation.  These  are  the  effusions  of  a  heart  but  eighteen 
months  before  benighted  in  idolatry,  and  led  captive  by  Sa- 
tan at  his  will.  I  am  not  quite  sure  that  I  have  in  every  in- 
stance exhibited  the  exact  meaning  of  the  original.  The  style, 
idiom,  and  much  of  the  language,  is  Sanskrit,  written  in  a  meas- 
ured style  of  poetry  like  the  Hindoo  sacred  books. 

The  character  here  given  of  false  teachers,  or  gooroos,  is 
doubtless  true  to  life,  when  applied  to  thousands  of  religious 
mendicants  who  deluge  the  country.  Formerly,  they  went  in 
companies  of  hundreds,  and  sometimes  of  thousands,  and  devas- 
tated the  country  like  a  cloud  of  locusts.  When  they  came  to  a 
village,  they  demanded  whatever  they  chose,  and  resorted  to  vio- 
lence if  it  were  not  given.  The  practice  here  alluded  to  of  say- 
ing muntras  in  the  ear,  is  very  common,  and  is  regarded  as  very 
efficacious. 

MARKS   OF  A  TRUE   (TEACHER)   GOOROO. 

i 

"A  gooroo  should  be  learned  in  the  Scriptures,  a  wise  and 
skillful  teacher,  and  versed  in  all  sorts  of  learning.  Casting  off 
the  pride  of  human  wisdom,  he  should  delight  in  the  commands 
of  God.  He  should  turn  his  back  on  the  wealth  or  the  wife  of 
his  neighbor,  and  should  never  speak  of  the  faults  or  the  defects 
of  others.  He  is  sacredly  bound  to  be  discreet,  merciful,  and 
benevolent.  As  the  sun  enlightens  and  blesses  all  around,  so 


184  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

ought  his  beneficence  and  wisdom  to  impart  instruction  and  hap- 
piness. Having  secured  his  own  salvation,  he  should  seek  the 
salvation  of  all  about  him.  He  should  make  his  disciples  holy. 
In  honor  and  dishonor,  he  should  be  the  same.  Should  a  disci- 
ple, whom  he  has  taught  with  much  care,  forsake  him  and  go  to 
another  teacher,  he  should  not  indulge  his  mind  in  angry  or  un- 
becoming feeling.  Should  the  people  revile  and  stone  him,  he 
ought  to  cast  before  him  the  shield  of  forgiveness,  and  not  allow 
hatred  or  revenge  to  arise.  His  love  to  his  disciples  should  be 
like  love  to  a  brother.  A  gooroo  should  never  take  a  crooked 
step,  or  throw  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  his  disciples. 
He  should  keep  himself  from  all  hurtful  passions,  and  fix  his 
mind  on  heavenly  things.  If  fortune  smiles,  or  if  in  a  moment 
all  is  dashed  to  the  ground,  his  mind  is  neither  elated  with  joy, 
nor  depressed  with  sorrow.  The  ant  and  the  universe,  the 
mighty  and  the  mean,  the  king  and  the  beggar,  are  alike.  The 
image  of  the  sun  appears  the  same,  whether  its  rays  fall  into  a 
large  or  small  vessel  of  water.  He  is  a  true  gooroo,  who,  in  all 
his  conversation  and  intercourse  with  the  world,  never  forgets 
his  station  and  character,  nor  loves  disputes  or  useless  contro- 
versy. The  great  and  the  rich  of  the  earth  do  him  honor ;  but  he 
regards  not  their  praise,  and  seeks  not  to  be  called  great.  To 
flatter  the  great  and  despise  the  low,  he  knows  not.  He  is  at 
peace  with  himself,  delights  in  the  worship  of  God,  and  loves 
the  society  of  the  righteous.  Adorned  with  these  marks,  he  be- 
comes a  mighty  and  a  complete  gooroo.  Whoever  does  not  bear 
about  him  these  marks,  has  no  claim  to  the  qualities  of  a  gooroo. 
Such  a  one  is  false  at  heart :  keep  not  his  company.  There  is 
no  wisdom  in  him.  As  the  lizard  runs  from  place  to  place, 
stretching  out  his  neck  to  spy  out  every  object  about  him,  so  the 
hypocritical  gooroo  saunters  from  village  to  village,  to  make  a 
show  of  his  sanctity,  and  to  answer  his  own  carnal  purposes.* 
They  reproach  all  good  men,  and  teach  for  the  word  of  God  the 
precepts  of  man.  They  decoy  the  simple  from  the  right  way, 

*The  impositions  practiced  by  those  religions  mendicants,  and  by  others  assuming 
their  garb  and  habits,  are  wonderful ;  and  only  show  more  strikingly  the  wretched- 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  185 

and,  pretending  they  know  every  thing,  teach  the  people  that 
first  of  all  they  should  worship  them.  Whomsoever  they  hap- 
pen to  meet,  they  accost  as  their  disciple,  and  strive  to  draw  him 
after  them.  Like  the  gabbling  of  a  drunkard,  they  prate  out 
unmeaning  muntras  (charms  or  incantations)  into  the  ear,  but 
ensnare  their  disciples  by  their  fair  words,  and  threaten  them 
with  curses  if  they  do  not  worship  them.  They  say  'we  are 
wise,  and  freed  from  all  earthly  pollution,  and  regulate  ah1  our 
actions  by  the  shastras.'  They  sometimes  appear  meek;  again 
they  are  full  of  lust  and  anger.  They  say  '  we  are  in  the  way  of 
salvation,'  but  they  know  not  God.  They  put  on  a  false  sem- 
blance of  virtue,  while  the  deadly  disease  within  is  unhealed." 

Babajee,  during  the  last  months  of  his  life,  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  writing  abhungu,  and  other  poetical  pieces,  in  which  he 
imitated  the  style  of  composition,  and  the  manner  of  delivering 

ness  of  a  superstitious  nation.  Under  the  semblance  of  great  sanctity  and  self- 
denial,  or  in  the  practice  of  severe  penance,  these  vagrants  wander  about  from 
village  to  village,  and  make  all  things,  as  far  as  possible,  subservient  to  themselves. 
This  they  often  do  in  no  small  degree  ;  for  the  deluded  people  believe  there  is  great 
merit  in  feeding  them.  Hence  they  supply  their  wants  while  they  remain,  and  give 
them  money  to  carry  away.  These  devotees  go  on  long  pilgrimages,  begging  their 
way  for  thousands  of  miles ;  and  are,  perhaps,  at  the  same  time  engaged  in  some 
profitable  traffic  in  precious  metals  or  Cashmere  shawls.  The  latter  they  procure 
very  cheap  at  Cashmere,  and  the  former  in  Northern  India,  and  manage  to  carry 
them  among  their  rags  so  as  to  be  unsuspected.  They  sell  these  at  an  enormous 
profit.  These  arch  hypocrites  have  been  found  dead  by  the  road,  or  at  some  place 
far  from  home,  and,  on  examination,  their  tattered,  dirty  ungurka  has  been  found 
to  be  quilted  full  of  gold  mohurs,  a  coin  of  the  value  of  fifteen  rupees,  or  more  than 
seven  dollars.  The  finest  portion  of  the  city  of  Poona,  which  is  called  Gosawee- 
poor,  was  built  by  these  beggars.  They  are  generally  called  gosawees.  A  Brah- 
mun,  whom  I  have  this  moment  consulted  on  the  subject,  says  the  circumstance  of 
a  gosawee's  being  rich  or  poor,  has  no  influence  on  the  people  in  respect  to  giving 
them  in  charity  ;  they  regard  only  their  "moral greatness." 

Natives  have  formerly,  and  no  doubt  do  at  the  present  day,  assume  the  garb  and 
habits  of  the  gosawee  for  a  still  worse  purpose  than  to  extort  charity.  The  thief, . 
the  highway  robber,  the  assassin,  the  spy,  and  traitor,  all,  in  their  turn,  have  been 
known  to  besmear  their  hair  and  bodies  with  ashes,  daub  their  faces  with  ochre, 
doff  their  ordinary  apparel,  and  put  on  the  copperas-colored  cloth  of  the  gosawee. 
They  sally  forth  with  the  staff  in  hand,  a  bell,  a  string  of  beads,  a  necklace  of  shells, 
a  cocoa-nut  or  gourd-shell  to  receive  alms,  and  their  besmeared  hair  flying  in  the 
wind.  Thus  decorated,  the  pretended  gosawee  goes  forth,  sometimes  braying  like 
an  ass,  sometimes  howling  like  a  jackall,  and  enters  houses,  spying  out  its  riches, 
and  its  defense,  and  reports  to  the  head  of  the  banditti  to  which  he  belongs.  And, 
in  like  manner,  they  accomplish  any  dark  deed  of  robbery  or  murder  which  they 
wish.  Captain  Mackintosh  mentions,  in  his  history  of  the  lawless  marauders  of 
the  Deckan,  called  Ramoosees,  that  this  is  their  most  common  resource  for  ascer- 
taining the  amount  of  property  in  any  given  place,  or  the  means  by  which  it  could 
be  obtained.  An  arch  fellow,  in  the  garb  of  a  gosawee,  would  bring  Oomajee,  their 
chief,  an  account  of  any  treasure  which  was  to  be  moved,  and  an  estimate  of  its  value. 


186  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

instruction,  which  is  practiced  among  the  Brahmuns.  The  ab- 
hungu  is  a  metrical  composition,  in  praise  of  the  Deity,  aiid 
adapted  to  the  sing-song  tone  in  which  the  natives  recite  the  shas- 
tras,  or  rehearse  traditions,  legends,  and  the  like. 

As  this  practice  is  so  common,  and  so  well  suited  to  convey 
instruction  to  the  native,  hi  a  manner  which  will  interest  him,  it 
is,  undoubtedly,  an  important  desideratum  to  be  able  to  turn  this 
to  good  account.  It  is  not,  however,  likely  to  be  done  with 
effect,  except  by  a  learned  native.  The  foreigner's  imitation  of 
it  would  be  so  remote  and  barbarous,  that  the  people  would 
scarcely  recognize  it.  As  Christianity  advances  in  India,  this 
kind  of  composition  will  not  unlikely  be  adopted  as  a  channel 
for  communicating  religious  truth ;  and  it  will  at  the  same  time 
furnish,  perhaps,  the  only  proper  substitute  for  the  bawdy  songs, 
stories,  and  legends  which  so  much  abound  among  the  natives. 
They  have  so  long  cherished  the  propensity  to  recite  and  listen 
to  these — the  habit  is  so  common  and  inveterate  —  that  converts 
to  Christianity,  unless  they  are  furnished  with  a  substitute,  will 
almost  inevitably  be  corrupted  by  them.  Babajee  had  not  over- 
looked this  principle  in  human  nature.  Whether  the  more 
effectual  edification  of  his  people  was  the  motive  which  moved 
him,  in  the  first  instance,  to  adopt  this  mode  of  composition,  or 
whether  it  originated  from  feeling  a  vacuity  in  his  own  mind, 
arising  from  the  force  of  habit,  is  uncertain.  He  recited  these 
hymns  (as  I  may  as  well  call  them)  to  his  more  intimate 
friends,  and  to  small  circles  of  the  people,  used  then  at  family 
devotion  in  his  own  house,  and  when  unoccupied  he  was  almost 
continually  singing  them.  I  shall  here  add  a  few  specimens, 
without  any  attempt  to  exhibit  the  measure  or  the  style  of  the 
original,  but  only  to  convey  the  thoughts  of  the  writer.  Our 
English  translation  of  the  Psalms  of  the  "  sweet  singer  of  Israel," 
give  us  scarcely  any  idea  of  the  beauty  of  the  original  Hebrew 
poetry.  So,  comparing  small  things  with  great,  the  following 
translation  conveys  but  a  slight  notion  of  the  original. 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  187 

I.  —  WHO   IS   JESUS? 

Jesus  is  the  King  of  saints  ;  Jesus  is  the  support  of  the  soul ;  Jeans  ia  my  God.    In 

heaven  or  in  earth,  there  is  no  other  Savior. 

He  is  the  ornament  and  delight  of  his  saints,  a  terror  to  the  wicked,  pardon  to  the 
,  penitent,  and  his  tender  mercies  are  over  all. 

Jesus  is  an  ocean  of  happiness,  a  sea  of  love,  a  firm  mountain  which  cannot  be 

moved. 
He  is  the  guide  and  protector  of  his  people  ;  an  inexhaustible  fountain  in  the  house 

of  his  saints. 

. 

II.  —  CONFESSION. 

In  vain  was  my  life ;  my  days  went  to  naught  when  I  did  not  worship  thee,  0  !  my 

Savior. 
I  squandered  my  substance  in  sin ;  vain  and  vile  were  all  my  offerings  to  strange 


In  vain  have  I  called  this  or  that  my  own ;  I  have  thrust  my  neck  in  a  snare,  and 
there  was  none  to  deliver. 

When  I  turned  my  back  on  the  righteous,  I  incensed  a  Holy  God,  and  deprived 
myself  of  the  gracious  fruits  of  his  Spirit. 

Who,  and  what  I  was,  and  whither  tending,  I  knew  not ;  all  my  penances  and  obla- 
tions were  vain. 

Helpless,  worthless,  and  undone,  my  soul  shall  cleave  to  my  Redeemer.  This 
mortal,  wonderful  body,  will  soon  perish. 

Who  can  understand  the  subtlety  of  Death  ?  He  smites,  he  casts  into  the  grave, 
and  gluts  his  vengeance. 

Lo  1  this  vain  world  I  leave ;  though  lost,  I  am  found ;  I  am  saved  in  Christ,  the 
sinner's  friend. 

HI.  —  THE   SAVIOR. 

Surely  Christ  is  our  Father,  our  Mother,  our  Brother. 

Fountain  of  mercy,  blessed  Jesus,  speedily  thou  relievest  the  weary  and  afflicted. 

Thou  hast  saved  me  through  Grace ;  what  shall  I  render  thee  ?    I  have  nothing  to 

offer. 
Lover  of  the  humble  1     Thou  hast  freely  saved  me !     Grant  me  what  is  fit ;  do  with 

me  as  thou  wilt. 
Envy,  anger,  and  lust,  like  flames,  consume  us ;  disease,  sorrow,  and  death  are  the 

portion  of  our  cup. 

Therefore  will  I  continually  call  on  thee,  thou  fountain  of  Mercy,  blessed  Jesus  I 
Manifest  thyself  to  my  soul ;  for  I  will  seek  thee  with  my  whole  heart. 
Speedily  receive  me,  0  1  thou  friend  of  saints  I  deliver  me  in  thy  great  mercy  I 

IV.  —  CHRIST   A   FATHER  AND   A  FRIEND. 

Christ  is  the  Father  of  the  fatherless,  the  mighy  God,  the  Lord  of  all. 

Like  a  kind  father,  he  inclines  his  ear  and  hears  when  his  suppliant  children  cry. 


188  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

He  knows  their  thoughts,  He  sees  their  wants,  His  hand  is  near.  In  Life,  in 
death,  adore  the  Savior  God. 

He  who  looks  to  Him  with  undivided  heart,  shall  find  honor,  peace,  and  happiness. 

Let  all  the  people  worship  and  adore  Him  I  how  vain,  how  vile  to  worship  other 
gods,  the  creatures  of  His  hand  1 

Behold  the  man  consumed  by  a  hundred  desires !  Can  gold,  or  pride,  or  lust  pro- 
cure him  peace  and  pardon  ?  But  I  will  cling  to  Jesus. 

Tell  me,  0!  ye  people,  how  a  man  can  be  clean  in  the  sight  of  God!  I  have 
searched  your  shastras,  I  have  tried  your  gods  ;  but,  alas  !  in  vain !  Come 
ye  to  Jesus  ;  He  is  the  fountain. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

The  Latter  Period  of  his  Life  —  Labors  more  zealously — Grows  in  Grace — The  value 
of  Native  Assistants  —  Church  Organized  —  Babajee  made  Elder — Babajee's  Sick- 
ness and  Death  —  Reflections  —  A  Voice  to  Christians  —  To  Young  Men  —  A 
Prayer. 

BUT  the  days  of  our  beloved  disciple  were  numbered.  Too 
soon  for  us — too  soon  for  his  poor  countrymen — he  was  called 
away  to  a  higher  and  a  holier  work,  nearer  to  his  redeeming  God. 
The  sun,  which  rose  so  clearly,  and  shone  so  brightly,  was  soon 
to  set.  It  set  without  a  cloud.  But  for  our  fond  hopes  that  the 
Master  of  the  vineyard  would  spare  a  laborer,  who,  in  our  esti- 
mation, was  so  important  to  the  furtherance  of  the  Gospel  among 
the  heathen,  we  should  have  indulged  a  presentiment  that  he  was 
preparing  for  a  speedy  exit  from  a  state  of  labor  and  suffering,  to  a 
state  of  rest  and  glory.  During  three  or  four  months  previous 
to  his  death,  he  had  been  more  than  usually  zealous  for  the  con- 
version of  his  people,  more  exclusively  devoted  to  his  labors,  and 
more  elevated  and  uniform  in  his  religious  affections.  His  views 
of  Christianity  seemed  daily  to  become  enlarged,  and  his  benevo- 
lence more  extensive.  He  now  beautifully  exemplified  the  diffu- 
sive character  of  our  blessed  religion.  His  love  became  more 
ardent,  his  faith  drew  nearer  and  nearer  to  reality,  and  his  hope 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  189 

to  fruition.     During  this  period,  he  indulged  the  most  sanguine 
hopes  that  the  conversion  of  India  was  near. 

But  we  must  review  this  period  more  particularly.  His  labors 
with  the  people  of  the  poor  asylum  were  almost  incessant.  He 
read  to  them  the  Scriptures,  explained  them,  repeated  verse  by 
verse  to  those  who  were  blind,  that  they  might  treasure  up  in 
their  hearts  portions  of  the  word  of  God;  taught  them  from 
room  to  room,  and  prayed  with  them  in  private.  His  instruc- 
tions became  more  and  more  impassioned  and  pointed ;  his  pri- 
vate controversies  with  the  people  of  his  own  caste,  were  more 
earnest  and  solemn ;  and  in  all  things  he  labored  like  a  man  who 
had  much  to  do  in  a  short  time.  We  had,  at  this  period,  several 
persons  who  had  asked  baptism,  and  were  regarded  by  us  as  in- 
quirers after  the  truth.  Though  a  little  too  credulous  in  fair 
professions,  he  generally  showed  a  discrimination  and  judgment 
in  testing  the  character  of  such,  and  imparting  suitable  instruc- 
tions, which  would  do  honor  to  teachers  of  much  more  religious 
experience.  On  the  occasion  when  these  candidates  were  receiv- 
ed into  the  church,  Babajee  seemed  indeed  to  partake  of  the 
feeling  of  good  old  Simeon,  when  he  said,  "Mine  eyes  have 
seen  thy  salvation,  Lord ;  now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in 
peace." 

Although  four  of  these  were  Mhars,  (whose  shadow,  if  it  so 
much  as  pass  over  a  Brahmun,  pollutes  him,)  and  two  others 
were  diseased  with  leprosy,*  Babajee  gave  them  the  most  cordial 
reception,  and  did  not  manifest  the  least  scruple  to  the  receiving 
of  them  to  the  full  and  immediate  participation  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  This  involved  a  more  complete  renunciation  of  caste 
than  he  had  previously  been  called  on  to  make. 

*  The  reader  may  not  be  aware  that  lepers,  as  soon  as  they  appear  to  be  past  cure, 
become  outcasts.  They  are  disinherited  and  cast  out  by  their  relatives,  and  almost 
unavoidably  become  great  suflerers  for  the  want  of  the  most  common  comforts  of 
life,  to  say  nothing  of  the  bodily  pains  which  they  suffer  on  account  of  the  disease. 
Nor  are  lepers  the  only  persons  who  are  cruelly  treated  on  account  of  infirmity  or 
disease.  "The  following  persons  are  excluded  from  inheritance,  unless  the  defect 
can  be  removed  by  medicaments  or  penance :  Any  one  who  is  blind,  deaf,  dumb, 
unable  to  walk,  leprous,  impotent,  insane,  idiotic,"  &c. — Steels' t  Law  and  Custom 
of  Caste. 


190  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

On  preaching  tours,  made  in  company  with  the  writer,  Baba- 
jee's  labors  were  most  zealous  and  indefatigable.  His  instructions 
were  now  more  tender,  and  at  the  same  time  more  pointed  and 
searching;  his  prayers  more  fervent;  his  hopes  more  elevated 
and  sanguine,  but  completely  based  on  the  Divine  promises ;  and 
his  anxieties  more  intense  for  the  salvation  of  his  countrymen. 
He  always  bore  an  important  share  of  the  labor  of  addressing 
the  people  in  public ;  but  I  here  speak  more  particularly  of  his 
more  private  labors,  of  his  private  conversations  with  little 
groups  of  natives,  which  he  always  managed  to  gather  about 
him.  He  explained  to  them  the  nature  of  the  Christian  religion, 
removed  their  objections,  and  pointed  out  to  them  the  absurdities 
and  the  errors  of  their  own  system.  The  whole  lifetime  of  a  for- 
eigner would  be  insufficient  to  qualify  him  to  perform  this  part 
of  missionary  labor,  so  ably  as  a  pious,  intelligent  Brahmun  can 
do;  so  well,  I  may  say,  as  Babajee  did.  This  does  not  merely 
suppose  a  competent  acquaintance  with  their  language,  but  it 
supposes  a  knowledge  of  every  thing  which  makes  a  Hindoo 
differ  in  habits  of  thinking,  in  modes  of  reasoning,  in  prejudices, 
superstitions,  maxims,  or  customs,  from  a  foreigner.  Foreigners, 
missionaries  from  Christian  lands,  we  must  have,  in  order  to  pre- 
pare the  instruments  who  are  to  accomplish  the  great  work  which 
remains  to  be  done  in  India;  but  the  instruments  themselves  must 
be  natives  of  the  country. 

The  last  occasion  in  which  I  was  united  with  Babajee,  for  the 
furtherance  of  the  Gospel,  was  the  organization  of  our  mission 
church.  It  was  a  solemn  and  interesting  occasion.  Babajee  had 
been  proposed,  and  unanimously  chosen  an  elder  of  the  church, 
and  was  this  day  ordained  to  the  office.  His  whole  deportment 
on  this  occasion  appeared  the  index  of  a  sincere  heart,  and  be- 
spoke a  becoming  sense  of  responsibility.  His  humility,  his  gen- 
tleness, his  solemnity,  and  the  tears  of  joy  and  penitence  which 
rolled  down  his  cheeks  as  he  knelt  before  us,  furnished  the  most 
pleasing  evidence  that  Divine  grace  can  humble  the  proud  Brah- 
mun, and  warm  his  cold  heart;  that  it  can  infuse  sensibility  into 
his  unfeeling  breast,  and  implant  the  matchless  graces  of  love, 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  191 

friendship,  and  benevolence,  in  a  soil  where  once  flourished 
nothing  but  the  rank  weeds  of  avarice,  hatred,  selfishness,  and 
pride. 

From  this  time  to  his  death,  Babajee,  with  the  assistance  of 
Dajaba,  carried  on  the  operations  of  the  mission,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Mr.  Boggs,  who  had  recently  arrived  in  the  country,  and 
could  not,  of  course,  afford  any  direct  assistance  in  the  Mahratha 
services.  He  conducted  our  morning  and  evening  service,  super- 
intended two  schools,  and  was  the  overseer  of  the  poor  asylum. 
In  addition  to  the  increased  labors  and  cares  which  my  absence 
threw  on  him,  he  undertook  to  instruct  Mr.  B.  in  the  Mahratha 
language.  He  was  perfectly  voluntary  in  these  services.  The 
labors  of  the  mission  would  have  been  curtailed  had  he  not  de- 
sired that  they  should  remain  as  they  were.  His  zeal,  no  doubt, 
hurried  him  on  beyond  the  limits  of  his  strength ;  and  it  is  not 
improbable  that  his  increased  labors  predisposed  him  to  an  attack 
of  the  cholera.  He  was  naturally  of  a  feeble  constitution,  and 
had  been  but  little  accustomed  to  hard  study  and  severe  exertion. 

His  zeal  remained  unabated.  The  spirit  was  indeed  willing ; 
but,  alas!  how  soon  we  were  convinced,  the  flesh  was  weak. 
Never  were  our  expectations  more  raised,  never  did  we  regard  his 
labors  so  essential  to  the  successful  prosecution  of  our  work.  But 
the  great  Head  of  the  church  had  otherwise  determined.  We 
were  to  be  rebuked  for  fixing  our  hopes  too  much  on  man  for 
success.  Babajee  was  not  necessary  to  the  accomplishment  of 
God's  purposes  in  India,  and  he  removed  him  to  a  higher  and 
a  happier  sphere  of  action.  "While  in  the  midst  of  his  work, 
and  when  we  regarded  him  as  peculiarly  qualified  for  increased 
usefulness,  he  was  seized  with  the  cholera.  He  survived  the  first 
attack,  and  attempted  to  return  to  his  work ;  but  the  scourge  re- 
appeared after  a  few  days,  and  executed  its  dread  commission, 
and  left  our  afflicted  mission  again  to  mourn. 

His  end,  as  far  as  wo  know,  was  peace.  Ho  member  of  the 
mission  who  could  speak  his  language,  or  understand  what  he 
said,  was  with  him  during  his  illness,  or  at  the  time  of  his  death. 
Some  days  before  his  death,  he  lost  the  use  of  his  speech,  and 


192  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

soon  after  was  bereft  of  reason.  It  does  not  appear  that  any  ap- 
prehensions were  entertained,  either  by  himself  or  others,  that 
his  end  was  so  near,  till  he  became  unable  to  converse.  His  wife, 
and  others  who  were  with  him,  say,  that  up  to  the  time  of  his 
delirium,  he  uniformly  expressed  an  entire  confidence  in  his  Re- 
deemer, and  an  unshaken  hope  of  salvation  by  his  blood.  He 
died  on  the  17th  April,  1833,  aged  forty-two;  lamented  by  the 
mission,  deeply  lamented  by  his  bereaved  widow,  lamented  by 
the  church,  by  the  people  of  the  poor-house,  and  respected,  as 
far  as  a  person  in  his  circumstances  could  be,  by  all.  He  was 
highly  esteemed  by  the  lower  orders  of  the  people ;  and  the 
Brahmuns,  while  they  no  doubt  most  cordially  hated  him  for 
having  abandoned  the  religion  of  his  fathers,  and  not  only  be- 
come a  proselyte  to  another  religion,  but  a  teacher  of  it,  could 
not  but  respect  him  as  a  clever  man,  and  an  honest,  upright,  and 
sincere  outcast.  They  had,  no  doubt,  many  a  tune  predicted  his 
death  as  a  judgment  which  the  angry  gods  would  inflict  on  him 
for  his  impiety,  in  forsaking  the  religion  of  their  ancient  order; 
and  they  now,  not  unlikely,  sought  to  turn  the  present  occasion 
to  their  own  account,  and  to  rivet  the  fetters  on  their  willing 
slaves.  The  event  had  verified  the  prediction,  and  they  could 
now  challenge  the  confidence  of  the  people,  and  at  the  same  time 
hold  out  to  all  apostates  from  Brahmunism  an  example  of  terror. 
But  why  do  the  heathen  rage,  and  the  people  imagine  a  vain 
thing?  He  that  sitteth  in  the  heavens  shall  laugh;  the  Lord 
shall  have  them  in  derision.  He  will  speak  to  them  in  his  wrath, 
and  vex  them  in  his  sore  displeasure;  while  the  holy  hill  of 
Zion  shall  arise,  and  the  glory  of  her  King  shall  fill  the  whole 
earth.  Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly!  Dispel  the  dark  clouds 
which  now  hover  over  the  heathen  nations,  take  thine  "  inherit- 
ance," and  possess  "  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth." 

But  stop,  pious  reader,  and,  as  you  drop  a  tear  over  the  little 
spot  of  earth  where  repose  the  bones  of  Babajee,  reflect  for  whom 
you  mourn.  You  mourn  not  for  a  hero  who  defied  the  thunders 
of  war — who  was  great  only  in  the  destruction  of  his  species, 
and  who  shall  live  only  in  the  history  of  battles  and  martial  tri- 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  193 

uniphs.  You  mourn  not  for  a  statesman,  whose  marbled  monu- 
ment tells  you  how  great  be  was — bow  little  be  is.  You  mourn 
not  for  a  poet,  a  sage,  or  an  orator.  You  mourn  for  a  Hindoo 
Brabmun — for  a  despised  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  a  dark  cor- 
ner of  the  earth,  whom  the  world  knew  not,  and  of  whom  the 
world  was  not  worthy.  You  mourn  for  a  hero  who  dared  defy 
more  than  the  warlike  hosts  of  earth — who  dared  contend,  at 
the  sacrifice  of  every  earthly  tie,  with  a  contemptuous  priesthood 
and  a  superstitious  people — who  dared  confront  a  sneering  world. 
And  why  should  you  lament  for  him?  He  is  one  among  the 
millions  who  have,  within  the  brief  period  of  your  remembrance, 
gone  from  that  benighted  land  into  the  world  of  spirits.  He  ex- 
changed a  state  of  persecution  and  of  suffering,  for  a  state  of  joy 
and  everlasting  blessedness.  They  have  gone  from  a  land  of 
wretchedness  and  abominations,  to  meet  the  final  doom  of  the 
idolater.  We  lament  not  his  happy  exchange.  We  mourn  that 
he  is  so  soon  snatched  away  from  the  harvest  which  we  had  hoped 
he  was  to  gather  in.  But  we  bow,  for  so,  Father,  it  seemed  good 
in  thy  sight. 

But  a  voice  comes  from  Babajee's  grave,  which  we  would  do 
well  to  heed.  I  have  alluded  to  the  importance,  to  the  seemingly 
indispensable  necessity  of  native  laborers,  in  order  to  carry  on 
any  extensive  operations  in  India.  I  have  dwelt  sufficiently  on 
the  important  services  which  Babajee  rendered  to  the  mission, 
during  his  short  Christian  career.  But  there  is  another  aspect 
in  which  we  ought  here  to  view  this  subject.  I  mean  the  myste- 
rious nature  of  the  dispensation.  Babajee  was  an  extraordinary 
instance  of  piety  and  zeal.  He  was  brought  into  the  kingdom 
of  his  Redeemer  at  a  late  period  of  his  life.  His  whole  soul 
seemed  intent  on  a  single  object — professedly  the  grand  object  of 
every  disciple  of  Christ.  Zeal  for  the  house  of  God  consumed 
him.  He  was  a  light  to  the  Gentiles.  He  emerged  from  the 
dark  abyss  of  idolatry.  He  shone  brightly  for  a  little  space. 
Many  saw  the  light,  and  a  few  were  guided  by  its  refulgence  to 
the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  This  light  was  extinguished.  It 

sunk  not  again  into  the  abyss,  but  ascended,  burning  brighter 
13 

•*'••*'*'  '  *'« 


194  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

and  brighter,  till  it  was  lost  in  the  inextinguishable  splendor  of 
the  "  perfect  day." 

Eighteen  short  months  measured  his  Christian  existence.  But 
why  was  his  course  so  short?  God  so  determined,  and  we  re- 
epond,  Father,  thy  will  be  done!  But  why,  I  ask  with  defer- 
ence, why  does  God  deal  with  us  in  this  manner?  Why  did 
he  single  out  Babajee  from  the  myriads  of  that  corrupt  priest- 
hood, and  convert  him,  and  fill  his  heart  with  benevolence,  and 
zeal,  and  piety,  and  permit  him  to  commence  a  useful  career,  and 
so  highly  raise  our  hopes ;  and  then,  almost  at  the  outset,  dash 
those  hopes  to  the  ground?  Why  does  he  open  such  an  un- 
bounded field  for  missionary  operations  in  India,  and  permit  his 
people  to  send  laborers  to  that  harvest,  and  then  leave  them  to 
contend  with  such  difficulties  in  reference  to  the  heathen  them- 
selves, to  struggle  with  so  much  ill-health,  to  be  removed,  and 
so  often  to  sicken  and  die  ?  Why  does  he  give  us  so  little  appa- 
rent success,  so  few  converts  ?  why  so  much  defection  among  these 
converts  ?  Why  does  he  seem  to  withhold  from  that  field  the 
extensive  influences  of  his  blessed  Spirit?  We  may  resolve  all 
these  questions  in  his  sovereign  will.  We  may  say  "  it  is  to  try 
the  faith  of  his  people,"  to  test  our  fidelity  and  perseverance  in 
his  service.  But  there  may  be  reasons  with  which  we,  as  instru- 
ments, are  more  personally  and  more  awfully  concerned.  God 
may  be  displeased.  The  cloud  which  hangs  over  that  country 
may  be  the  cloud  of  his  indignation.  The  subject  demands  a 
most  solemn  investigation.  There  may  be  awful  guilt  some- 
where. 

To  ascertain  where  this  guilt  lies,  we  must  first  ascertain  where 
lies  the  responsibility.  The  command  has  gone  out  that  the  work 
must  be  done.  Every  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ  has  recognized,  in 
the  general  terms  of  his  covenant  vows,  that  this  command  is 
enjoined  on  him,  and  that  he  will  bear  the  burden  of  the  work 
to  the  extent  of  his  ability.  Here  then  is  responsibility.  It  lies, 
as  a  whole,  on  the  entire  body  of  Christ's  disciples.  It  lies,  indi- 
vidually, on  each,  and  on  every  member. of  Christ's  church.  If 
this  responsibility  be  not  sustained ;  if  every  professed  follower 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  195 

of  Jesus  Christ  do  not  put  forth  his  efforts  according  to  "that 
which  he  hath ;"  if  he  do  not  obey  a  most  unequivocal  command, 
and  do  not  fulfill  the  vow  which  he  knowingly  and  voluntarily 
made,  what  reason  has  he  to  expect  that  God  will  smile  on  his 
enterprise  ?  While  God  works,  as  he  has  said  he  will  work,  by 
human  instrumentality,  how  can  he  expect  that  missions  will 
prosper,  that  missionaries  will  be  preserved,  and  that  God  will 
extensively  pour  out  his  Spirit,  and  remove  all  those  mountain- 
like  obstacles  which  the  perversity  of  the  heathen's  heart  has  set 
up  against  the  conversion  of  that  quarter  of  the  globe  ? 

My  Christian  friends !  you  must  measure  your  expectations  of 
the  success  of  missions  among  the  heathen  by  your  own  zeal 
and  devotedness  to  the  cause.  Your  own  heart  is  the  index. 
The  amount  of  piety  there,  the  amount  of  genuine  love  to  God 
in  your  church,  of  devotedness  to  Christ  throughout  the  churches 
of  the  land,  of  self-devotion  in  her  ministers,  of  interest  in  the 
monthly  prayer-meeting  for  the  general  diffusion  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  will  tell  you  how  much  reason  you  have  to  hope  that  the 
Hindoos,  or  any  large  portions  of  the  heathen  world,  will  soon 
be  converted.  Weigh  yourselves  in  this  balance,  and  if  you  be 
found  wanting,  cease  to  murmur,  cease  to  reproach  the  almoners 
of  your  bounty  to  the  heathen,  humble  yourselves  in  the  dust, 
quicken  your  diligence,  cry  for  help,  and  begin  anew. 

But  I  do  not  mean  to  exonerate  your  missionaries.  They  bear 
with  you  an  individual  responsibility.  They  are  your  covenant- 
ed servants ;  and  bound  by  this  compact  to  be  faithful  to  the  con- 
fidence which  you  have  reposed  in  them.  They  may  not  have 
sustained  their  responsibility ;  and  they  may  not  have  acquitted 
themselves  well  as  your  representatives.  They  may  be  charge- 
able with  a  share  of  the  guilt.  They  are  but  men.  Charge  them 
with  a  want  of  fidelity  in  the  dispensing  of  the  precious  treasure 
which  you  have  committed  to  them,  if  they  deserve  it.  Send 
out  better  men  if  you  can ;  but  know  that  you  cannot  throw  off 
the  responsibility  of  this  great  work. 

But  comes  there  no  voice  from  that  consecrated  spot  to  the 
"schools  of  the  prophets?"  Yes;  I  hear  it.  I  have  already 


196  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

told  you  that  an  increased  burden  of  labor  devolved  on  Babajee 
a  few  weeks  before  his  death.  The  only  efficient  missionary  had 
been  compelled  to  leave  the  station  on  account  of  ill  health  ;  and 
the  only  remaining  one  was  at  that  time  unable  to  labor  among 
a  people  of  a  strange  tongue.  Why  did  your  predecessors  suffer 
our  number  to  become  so  reduced,  that  the  temporary  absence  or 
failure  of  a  single  man  must  suspend  our  labors,  or  throw  an  in- 
supportable burden  on  a  poor  native  convert  ?  They  knew  our 
wants.  Appeals  for  more  laborers  at  that  station  had  been 
made  but  a  few  months  previous  to  this  very  juncture.  And 
these  appeals  are  now  lying  in  your  archives,  then  little  heeded, 
now  forgotten.  They  sent  us  but  a  single  man.  He  arrived,  but 
late.  He  came  to  a  people  of  a  hard  speech,  and  could  then 
only  look  on,  lament,  in  vain  desire  to  labor,  and  return  to  his 
books.  Some  of  these  very  men,  who  then  heard  the  cry  for 
help,  and  who  ought  to  have  gone  to  India,  may  still  be  seeking 
some  goodly  place  in  America.  They  may  not  be  chargeable 
with  the  calamity  which  befell  us  in  consequence  of  their  neglect; 
but  they  may,  perhaps,  be  chargeable  with  a  dereliction  in  duty. 

Do  you  reply,  that  if  you  had  been  candidates  for  the  sacred 
office  at  that  time,  you  would  have  helped  us?  The  case  is  not 
altered.  Similar  difficulties  are  encountered,  similar  losses  are 
sustained  at  the  present  day,  and  the  same  reasons  exist  why  you 
should  go  to  the  help  of  your  brethren  in  India.  You  have  now 
before  you  at  least  one  disastrous  result  of  that  tardy,  hesitating 
spirit,  which  has  so  long  spell-bound  the  young  men  of  our 
theological  seminaries,  when  they  have  been  called  on  to  make 
a  decision  as  to  their  personal  duty  of  engaging  in  the  work  of 
foreign  missions.  The  above  is  probably  not  a  solitary  instance 
of  a  disastrous  result  from  the  same  cause.  Pity,  then,  to  your 
brethren,  who  are  laboring,  fainting,  struggling,  falling,  without 
comrades  enough  to  carry  them  to  their  untimely  graves,  pleads 
with  you  to  come  and  help  them.  Humanity  pleads.  The  per- 
ishing condition  of  the  heathen  pleads.  Obligation  to  your 
Savior  pleads.  God  commands. 

But  we  will  linger  no  longer  about  the  tomb  of  our  departed 


:*.  t.f.  ...?j  •".:;;  '."/if- 

INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  197 

brother.  Bust  has  returned  to  dust  —  ashes  to  ashes.  His 
spirit  has  returned  to  God  who  gave  it.  His  labors  on  earth 
are  done ;  his  account  is  closed ;  he  is  singing  the  song  of  Moses 
and  of  the  Lamb.  His  body  reposes  under  the  wide-spread- 
ing branches  of  a  tamarind  tree.  May  the  good  seed  which 
he  has  sown  be  watered  by  the  dews  of  Divine  grace,  and 
vegetate,  and  spring  up,  and  become  a  great  tree;  and,  like 
the  beautiful  and  ever-green  tamarind,  may  it  take  deep  root, 
extend  its  branches,  blossom,  and  bear  much  fruit.  May  its 
leaves  be  for  the  healing  of  that  nation,  its  fruit  delight  the 
souls  of  many,  and  under  its  shadow  may  the  weary  pilgrims  rest ! 

PRAYER  BY  BABAJEE.* 

"  0  thou  self-existent  Q-od !  who  art  worthy  to  be  adored  by 
the  whole  universe !  I  am  a  great  sinner.  I  was  born  in  sin. 
My  heart  is  naturally  full  of  lust,  envy,  pride,  avarice,  hypocrisy, 
and  deceit.  My  youth  was  spent  in  vanity,  and  my  riper  years 
in  dissipation  and  lewdness.  Old  age  approaches ;  death  is  in 
his  train.  "Without  thy  mercy,  O  God  !  I  must  suffer  everlasting 
punishment  in  hell. 

"  0  thou  Purifier  and  Restorer  of  the  fallen !  I  am  fallen. 
I  am  deserving  of  the  eternal  torments  of  hell.  I  am  like  a 
broken  vessel,  only  fit  to  be  cast  out  as  useless.  I  ask,  merciful 
God  !  the  pardon  of  my  sins.  I  do  not  ask  this  on  account  of 
any  good  works  which  I  have  done ;  nor  on  account  of  any 
righteousness  of  my  own.  I  am  fallen :  thou  art  the  Restorer. 
For  to  restore  such  as  I  am,  thou  didst  assume  a  human  body. 
In  the  person  of  the  Son,  thou  didst  become  incarnate,  and 
didst  yield  up  thy  life  on  the  cross,  to  atone  for  sin.  By  his  per- 
fect obedience  to  the  law,  in  our  stead,  he  did  work  out,  for  us, 
an  everlasting  righteousness.  I  come  to  thee  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ,  my  Savior,  and  implore  of  thee  the  pardon  of  all 

*  This  prayer  was  written  out,  by  Babajee,  a  few  weeks  before  his  death,  and  will 
here  very  appropriately  close  his  memoir.  It  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  specimen  of  his 
confessions  and  supplications  at  a  Throne  of  Grace,  as  far  as  related  to  his  own 
spiritual  wants.  His  supplications  for  others,  and  for  the  cause  of  Christ  in  general, 
are  equally  ardent  and  simple. 


198  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

my  sins.  Have  mercy  on  me.  Infuse  into  my  heart  thy  Holy 
Spirit,  and  cleanse  me  from  sin.  Eradicate  every  sinful  pro- 
pensity, and  ingraft  in  my  heart  the  lovely  graces  of  humility, 
gentleness,  compassion,  joy,  peace,  heavenly  wisdom,  and  a  holy 
disposition.  Deliver  me  from  sinful  thoughts  and  imaginations ; 
from  anger,  hypocrisy,  pride,  covetousness,  and  worldly  infatua- 
tion ;  and  enable  me  to  keep  thy  commandments,  and  to  worship 
thee  in  sincerity.  Lead  me  in  the  right  way ;  teach  me  thy  word; 
and  enable  me  to  preach  the  Gospel  of  thy  Son  with  boldness. 
I  can  do  nothing  without  thy  assistance.  I  can  neither  worship 
thee,  nor  pray  to  thee,  nor  praise,  thank,  nor  glorify  thee  aright. 
Therefore,  0  thou  Father  of  the  fatherless,  help  me,  save  me  — 
cast  me  not  off,  for  to  whom  else  shall  I  go  ? 

"Adorable  God!  may  this  body  of  sin  be  crucified  with  the 
body  of  Christ.  May  he  dwell  in  me,  and  I  in  him.  Soon  my 
soul  must  leave  this  earthly  tabernacle.  May  it  then,  through 
Jesus  Christ,  go  to  thee,  there  to  worship  thee  forever.  In  thy 
service  will  be  all  my  joy  and  happiness.  Ah1  this  I  ask  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  May  I  praise  and  glorify  thee  for 
ever  and  ever.  Amen  !" 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

Mission  at  Ahmednuggur  —  Its  Origin   and  Early  History— Lights   and  Shades  — 
Itineracies  —  Schools  —  Female  Education — The  English  Language. 

THE  American  mission  in  Ahmednuggur  was  commenced  in 
December,  1831.  In  a  tour  made  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of 
selecting  a  location  for  a  mission  in  the  Deckan,  we  found 
Ahmednuggur  a  large  and  increasing  town  —  once  the  capital  of 
a  large  Mohammedan  kingdom,  and  but  a  year  or  two  previous 
had  been  selected  as  a  principal  civil  and  military  station  in  the 
Deckan,  second  only  to  Poona.  Ahmednuggur  possessed  the 


.  . 

INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  199 

advantages  of  a  good  climate,  of  British  protection,  and  medical 
aid.  It  is  a  central  position,  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  great 
number  of  towns  and  villages,  some  of  which  are  of  considera- 
ble importance.  And  there  were  at  that  time  several  pious 
gentlemen  at  Ahmednuggur,  who  ardently  desired  the  establish- 
ment of  a  mission  there.  They  afforded  us  all  the  encourage- 
ment in  their  power ;  and  it  is  due  to  Mr.  E ,  the  collector, 

to  acknowledge  —  and  I  feel  a  pleasure  in  the  acknowledgement 
—  that  he  most  cheerfully  consented  to  the  proposed  mission. 
He  is  the  same  gentleman  who  has  been  already  mentioned  as 
the  collector  at  Poona,  when  the  first  attempts  were  made  to 
distribute  books  in  that  city,  where  he  adopted  a  very  different 
policy  in  reference  to  missionary  operations.  His  views  had 
changed.  He  not  only  consented  to  our  settlement  in  Ahmed- 
nuggur, but  he  afterwards  showed  us  many  kind  attentions. 

The  mission  having  determined  on  Ahmednuggur  as  the 
location  for  a  new  station,  Messrs.  Graves,  Hervey,  Babajee,  and 
myself  immediately  repaired  .thither.  The  mission  commenced 
under  very  favorable  auspices.  The  European  residents  received 
us  kindly;  and  the  natives  were  too  little  acquainted  with  the 
nature  of  missionary  operations  to  receive  us  otherwise.  During 
the  first  three1  or  four  months,  we  could  preach  to  large  assem- 
blies of  natives  wherever  we  chose,  either  at  our  own  houses  or 
in  any  part  of  the  town.  They  were  always  orderly,  and  gen- 
erally attentive.  But  the  novelty  soon  wore  away,  our  object 
became  known,  the  spirituality  of  the  Gospel  was  discovered, 
and,  what  no  doubt  was  the  greatest  offense  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Brahmuns,  it  was  also  discovered  that  Christianity  and 
Hindooism  could  have  no  communion.  The  uncompromising 
nature  of  Christianity  is,  every  where,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
heathen,  its  most  forbidding  feature. 

The  Brahmuns  began  first  to  treat  our  instructions  with  indif- 
ference, and  then  with  contempt.  On  several  occasions,  they 
abused  us  in  the  streets,  and  made  our  labors  by  the  wayside, 
and  in  the  chief  places  of  concourse,  uncomfortable,  and  often- 
times very  trying.  They  instigated  the  boys  to  hoot  at  us,  and 


200  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

pelt  us  with,  dirt  and  stones.  Babajee  was,  at  this  time,  inde- 
fatigable and  persevering.  His  labors  were  indeed  "  labors  of 
love"  for  his  poor  countrymen,  and  labors,  too,  of  patience  and 
affliction.  These  indignities,  though  aimed  more  particularly  at 
hun,  did  not  seem  to  dishearten  him.  No  part  of  his  character 
exhibits  him  in  a  more  pleasing  light  than  his  conduct  towards 
the  persecuting  Brahmuns.  When  they  mocked  and  reviled,  he 
ceased  not  to  reason  with  them,  to  warn  them,  and  to  pray  for 
them.  He  always  reasoned  with  mildness  and  love,  but  often- 
times with  an  earnestness  and  pungency  which  greatly  annoyed 
them.  Still,  they  could  not  but  entertain  for  hun  a  sort  of  re- 
spect, on  account  of  his  stern  integrity,  and  for  the  unabated 
interest  which  he  manifested  in  them  in  spite  of  all  their  abuse 
towards  him.  They  were  convinced,  I  believe,  that  he  was  a 
sincere  worshiper  of  the  eternal  and  invisible  God. 

Our  usefulness  was  greatly  increased  by  our  connection  with 
Babajee ;  and  his,  by  our  countenance  and  support.  We  sug- 
gested, and  he  preached ;  we  led  the  way,  and  he  faithfully  fol- 
lowed. In  his  public  labors  he  could  do  nothing  alone.  The 
people  would  not  for  a  moment  tolerate  him,  if  he  attempted  to 
instruct  them  in  public,  unaccompanied  by  a  white  man.  In  a 
more  private  capacity,  and  in  his  own  house,  he  did  not  suffer 
the  same  inconvenience.  But  for  his  greater  influence  here,  he 
was  indebted  to  his  connection  with  the  mission.  In  the  present 
state  of  Christianity  in  this  part  of  India,  no  Hindoo  convert, 
who  shall  honor  his  profession,  and  manifest  a  becoming  zeal  for 
the  conversion  of  his  countrymen,  would  long  be  allowed  to  ex- 
ercise the  functions  of  a  missionary,  unless  he  be  under  the  im- 
mediate care  of  foreign  missionaries.  The  supposed  connection 
between  missionaries  and  the  English  government  affords  native 
converts  the  protection  which  they  require. 

The  daily  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  the  town  and  at  our 
own  houses,  our  regular  studies,  the  superintendence  of  a  few 
schools,  and  a  tour  to  sixteen  villages  in  the  vicinity,  filled  up 
the  first  five  months  of  our  residence  at  Ahmednuggur.  Mr. 
Graves  was  principally  engaged  in  translating  the  Scriptures,  and 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  201 

Mr.  Hervey  and  myself  in  the  acquisition  of  the  Mahratha  lan- 
guage. 

"We  had  thus  far  gone  on  prosperously ;  beginning  to  indulge 
the  pleasing  hope  that  the  long  night  of  spiritual  death  and  of 
the  Divine  displeasure  was  far  spent,  and  that  the  "  day-spring 
from  on  high  "  was  about  to  arise  on  benighted  India.  But  alas ! 
how  short-sighted  is  man !  He  knows  not  what  a  day  may  bring 
forth.  In  an  hour  when  we  thought  not  of  it,  almost  in  the  sud- 
denness of  a  moment,  our  dear  brother  Hervey  was  transferred 
to  a  wider  field  of  usefulness — to  an  unfading  state  of  glory 
and  beatitude  in  the  heavens!  Too  soon — not  for  himself, 
not  for  the  cause  of  his  Redeemer,  in  general,  but  too  soon 
for  us  who  mourn  —  was  he  released  from  the  toils  and  trials 
of  a  missionary  life.  Too  soon  did  he  quit  the  scenes  which 
had  been  imbittered  but  a  year  before  by  the  death  of  his  beloved 
wife.  Too  soon  did  he  cease  to  care  for  his  orphan  child.  His 
sorrow  was  turned  into  joy ;  and  he  mingles  with  angels  in  their 
song  of  praise  to  God,  and  to  the  Lamb,  for  ever. 

On  the  evening  of  the  12th  of  May,  the  scourge  of  Asia  —  the 
scourge,  shall  I  say,  which  has  since  left  its  native  soil,  traversed 
every  nation  in  Europe,  and  crossed  the  broad  Atlantic,  to  take 
vengeance  on  America,  because  she  has  not  discharged  her  debt 
to  the  debased  nations  of  the  East — laid  her  cold  hand  on  our 
beloved  fellow-laborer,  and  marked  him  for  its  own.  He  dined 
with  us  at  two ;  called  again  at  half-past  five ;  changed  his  appa- 
rel at  six;  the  cold  sweat,  the  sunken  eye,  and  the  ghastly 
countenance  intimated,  at  seven  in  the  evening,  that  he  was  the 
sure  victim  of  spasmodic  cholera.  At  nine,  he  was  nearly  speech- 
less. Having  taken  leave  of  the  friends  about  him,  and  endeav- 
ored, in  vain,  to  kiss  his  little  boy,  who  now  started  back  with 
horror  when  brought  to  his  dying  father,  he  survived  till  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  distorted  by  spasms,  and  suffering  ago- 
nies indescribable.  Death,  on  his  first  approach,  surprised  him ; 
but  having  recovered  from  the  first  awful  shock,  his  soul  became 
quiet,  and  he  apparently  quit  the  tabernacle  of  clay,  and  entered 
the  eternal  world  with  a  hope  full  of  glory.  This  afflictive  prov- 


202  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

idence  still  lies  veiled  in  the  mysteries  of  eternity.  We  only 
know  that  it  was  right,  that  it  was  merciful  and  kind  in  our 
Heavenly  Parent,  and  productive  of  his  glory.  "We  are  able  to 
trace,  in  one  instance  at  least,  that  mercy  was  here  mingled  with 
judgment.  The  wife  of  Babajee  had  hitherto  been  a  thorn  and 
a  vexation  to  her  husband.  She  had  withstood  him  hi  his  pro- 
fession and  practice  of  Christianity,  and  often  grieved  his  soul  on 
account  of  her  blindness  of  mind  and  hardness  of  heart.  ~Not 
till  she  saw  a  Christian  die,  was  she  impressed  with  a  sense  of  her 
danger  and  of  eternal  realities.  In  a  few  months  she  was  brought 
to  renounce  the  delusive  system  of  her  fathers,  and  to  embrace 
the  religion  of  a  crucified  Redeemer.  She  was  baptized,  and  re- 
ceived into  the  Mission  Church,  on  the  17th  of  July,  1832. 

By  the  death  of  Mr.  Hervey,  and  the  removal  of  Mr.  Graves, 
the  labors  of  this  new  mission  now  devolved  on  Babajee  and 
myself.  When  we  were  weak,  then  were  we  strong.  We  were 
not  left  without  a  visible  testimony  that  God  is  faithful  to  fulfill 
his  promises.  The  asylum  for  the  poor,  the  aged  and  infirm, 
which  had  been  established  and  was  supported  by  voluntary  sub- 
scriptions among  the  English  residents,  had,  from  the  commence- 
ment of  the  mission,  been  put  under  our  superintendence.  This 
afforded  a  daily  opportunity  of  administering  to  the  souls  of  the 
inmates  the  bread  of  life,  as  well  as  the  meat  that  perishes.  In 
the  months  of  September  and  October,  several  of  the  poor  people 
became  unusually  attentive,  and  gave  pleasing  evidence  that  they 
began  to  care  for  the  things  which  pertain  to  eternal  life.  As  I 
was  one  evening,  about  the  middle  of  October,  returning  from 
our  five  o'clock  service,  poor  lame  Ebndooba  followed  me  unob- 
served. The  audience,  in  general,  had  that  evening  appeared 
unusually  inattentive,  and  some  of  the  bystanders  had  treated  us 
with  open  contempt.  I  had  but  just  sat  down  on  the  veranda  of 
the  house,  half  in  despair,  and  began  to  relate  to  the  only  earthly 
object  about  me  who  would  listen  to  and  appreciate  the  tale  of 
my  trials,  the  circumstances  which  had  just  occurred,  and  the 
abuse  which  I  had  received  from  this  ungrateful  people,  when 
Babajee  came  up  and  said,  "  Sahib,  here  is  a  man  who  wishes  to 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  203 

speak  with  you."  To  my  inquiry,  what  he  desired,  he  said,  "  I 
wish  to  be  baptized."  I  asked  him  why  he  made  such  a  request. 
He  replied,  "  I  am  a  great  sinner ;  my  mind  is  very  dark,  and  I 
wish  to  be  saved  through  Jesus  Christ."  I  asked  him  if  there 
were  no  other  Savior  to  whom  he  could  go ;  reminding  him  of 
the  Brahminical  expedients  in  such  a  case.  He  said,  "Jesus 
Christ  is  the  only  Savior  —  the  Savior  of  the  world."  "And 
why  are  you  now  troubled  about  sin  ?  what  evil  do  you  see  in  it  ?  " 
He  said,  "  I  am  greatly  pained  on  account  of  sin ;  I  deserve  ever- 
lasting punishment."  "Do  you  pray?"  " I  pray  for  light ;  my 
mind  is  very  dark."  I  cautioned  him  against  regarding  baptism 
as  a  rite  which,  in  itself,  could  save  him  from  sin  ;  instructed  him 
more  clearly  in  the  rudiments  of  the  Gospel,  and  exhorted  him 
to  pray  much,  to  hear  the  word  of  God  attentively,  and  to  repent 
and  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  without  delay ;  assuring 
him,  at  the  same  time,  that  I  should  be  most  happy  to  baptize 
him,  if  it  should  appear  that  a  work  of  grace  was  wrought  in 
his  soul.  As  he  told  me  this  short  and  simple  tale  of  his  heart, 
my  soul  blessed  and  magnified  the  Lord,  and  took  fresh  courage. 

This  man  was  of  very  low  caste,  and  had  been  in  the  poor- 
house  about  four  months,  during  which  tune  he  had  almost  daily 
heard  the  word  of  God;  but  we  knew  not  that  any  favorable  im- 
pression had  been  made  on  his  mind.  His  case,  coming  to  notice 
as  it  did  at  that  particular  time,  I  cannot  but  regard  as  a  kind 
providence,  to  cheer  a  lonely  missionary  in  the  hour  of  despond- 
ency, and  to  show  him  that  he  is  to  look  only  to  God  for  success 
in  his  labors. 

I  have  been  thus  particular  in  speaking  of  the  case  of  this  poor 
man,  because  he  was  the  first  fruits  of  my  labors  in  India.  The 
kind  reader  will  excuse  the  partiality ;  and  when  he  surveys  the 
nakedness  of  the  land,  he  will  cease  to  wonder  that  the  mission- 
ary in  Western  India  should,  after  a  residence  of  nearly  two 
years,  feel  peculiar  emotion  of  joy  and  gratitude,  that  one,  and 
one,  too,  so  obscure  and  despicable  in  the  eyes  of  men,  should  be 
brought  to  listen  to  his  instructions,  and  to  inquire  after  the  way 


204  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

of  salvation.  I  am  happy  to  add,  that  this  poor  man,  from  the 
period  of  his  first  inquiries  to  the  day  of  his  death,  nearly  three 
years,  did  not  disappoint  the  expectations  which  were  first  raised 
concerning  him. 

On  the  18th  of  November,  Kondooba,  and  two  others  of  the 
same  caste,  were  baptized,  and  admitted  to  the  church;  all 
inmates  of  the  poor-house.  The  occasion  was  one  of  deep  inter- 
est. Babajee  wept  for  joy.  He  saw  the  travail  of  his  soul,  and 
seemed  for  the  time  to  say,  "It  is  enough."  We  sat  down  to 
commemorate  the  sufferings  and  death  of  our  risen  and  ascended 
Lord.  One  such  occasion  repays  the  missionary  for  all  the  sacri- 
fices which  he  has  made.  We  were  joined  in  this  interesting 
scene  by  Captain  Sandwith,  to  whose  kindness  and  Christian 
attention  we  have  often  been  indebted,  and  by  two  other  officers 
of  the  eighth  regiment.  There  were  also  present,  as  spectators, 
about  a  hundred"  natives.  Some  looked  on  with  apparent  inter- 
est ;  others  gazed  as  at  some  unmeaning  ceremony.  Among  the 
former  were  three  or  four  who  requested  baptism,  and  were  re- 
garded by  us  as  inquirers  after  the  truth.  By  them  the  scene 
was  regarded  with  deep  interest,  and,  I  trust,  resulted  in  their 
good. 

From  this  time  most  of  the  inmates  of  the  asylum,  with  two 
or  three  others,  became  almost  constant  attendants  at  our  family 
worship  of  a  morning.  A  greater  degree  of  inquiry  was  excited 
among  them  during  the  month  of  December.  We  had,  for  the 
three  preceding  months,  observed  the  monthly  prayer-meeting, 
on  the  evening  of  the  first  Monday,  in  our  native  congregation. 
Its  object  had  been  explained;  and,  at  our  meeting  in  November, 
an  account  had  been  given  of  the  recent  success  which  has 
attended  missionary  labors  in  different  parts  of  the  heathen 
world,  and  especially  at  Ceylon  and  the  Sandwich  Islands.  I 
assured  them  that  it  is  the  practice  of  all,  in  every  country,  who 
love  and  revere  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  meet  on  the  even- 
ing of  that  day,  and  to  offer  up  to  God  their  united  prayers  and 
supplications  for  the  outpouring  of  his  Spirit,  for  the  whole 

• 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  205 

world,  and,  especially,  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen.*  And 
to  confirm  this,  I  told  them  that  they  would,  in  an  hour  or  two, 
see  our  pious  English  friends  come  to  our  house  for  that  purpose. 
There  seemed  something  in  the  idea  of  this  prager-meeting  which 
not  a  little  excited  their  curiosity.  And  the  next  morning  I  was 
told  that  those  who  had  heen  baptized,  and  one  or  two  others, 
came  to  Babajee  in  the  evening,  and,  referring  to  what  I  had  said, 
told  him  that  several  persons  had  met  at  our  house,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  praying  for  the  heathen,  and  asked  him  if  they  ought 
not  to  pray  for  themselves.  Babajee  readily  assented,  and  they 
all  joined  in  supplications  for  the  same  glorious  object. 

The  first  Monday  in  January,  1833, 1  shall  always  remember 
with  the  liveliest  feelings  of  gratitude.  On  that  day  God  vouch- 
safed to  visit  us  from  on  high  with  a  token  of  his  faithfulness  to 
the  promise,  "  Lo !  I  am  with  you."  The  day  had  been  set 
apart,  though  unknown  to  us  at  the  time,  by  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  the  United  States,  and  by  other  bodies  of  Christians, 
as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  for  the  heathen  world.  I  find  in 
my  journal  the  following  notice  of  that  day :  "  This  has  been  the 
most  solemn  and  interesting  day  I  have  witnessed  in  India.  At 
our  morning  prayers  in  the  native  language,  three  strangers  were 
present,  who  said  they  had  come  to  inquire  about  the  'new  way.' 
I  found,  on  inquiry,  that  two  of  these  were  the  parents  of  a 
blind  man  in  the  asylum,  who  had  requested  to  be  baptized.  Our 
son,  said  they,  has  been  blind  from  his  birth,  but  now  he  says 
that  'he  can  see.'  At  ten  o'clock,  Babajee  returned  from  his 
morning  visit  to  the  poor-house,  in  an  ecstasy  of  joy,  saying, 
*  The  poor  people  all  come  about  me,  inquiring,  what  shall  we  do  ? 
They  are  all  risen  up,'  continued  he,  '  and  have  their  loins  girt, 
and  are  ready.'  I  appointed  a  meeting  for  inquiry  at  three 
o'clock  to-day,  and,  to  my  joy  and  surprise,  there  were  sixteen 
present.  A  heavenly  influence,  I  am  persuaded,  was  with  us. 
Our  Christian  friends  in  America  must  be  praying  for  us." 

*  I  was  not  then  aware  how  partially  this  meeting  is  attended  in  the  American 
churches  in  general.  I  had  just  heard  of  the  very  extensive  revivals  of  religion 
throughout  the  United  States,  and  believed  there  must  be  a  corresponding  missionary 
spirit.  Does  the  present  appearance  of  our  monthly  concerts  for  prayer  manifest 
•uch  a  spirit  ? 


206  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

These  meetings  for  inquiry,  conversation  and  prayer  were  con- 
tinued weekly.  Among  the  inquirers  was  the  aged  mother  of 
Dajaba,  who,  with  her  son,  had  come  to  Ahmednuggur,  that  he 
might  enjoy  the  friendship  and  support  of  Babajee,  in  the  trials 
to  which  he,  as  a  convert  to  Christianity,  was  exposed.  In  Bom- 
bay, he  had  recently  suffered  much  persecution  and  abuse,  and 
had  once  been  beaten.  We  also  wished  him  to  enjoy  the  instruc- 
tions of  his  younger  brother  in  the  faith,  and  hoped  he  would 
catch  the  fire  of  his  zeal,  and  be  made  partaker  of  the  rich  spirit- 
ual gifts  which  seemed  to  be  imparted  to  Babajee.  While  Baba- 
jee lived,  our  hopes  were,  in  a  good  degree,  realized.  His  aged 
mother  had  been  a  stubborn  idolater,  had  cruelly  persecuted  him 
on  his  profession  of  Chistianity,  and  openly  declared  that  she 
would  live  and  die  in  the  religion  of  her  fathers.  She  had  some 
time  previously  given  up  her  idols ;  and  now  she  renounced  caste, 
lost  her  hatred  to  Christianity,  and  became,  as  we  hoped,  a  sin- 
cere and  humble  inquirer  after  the  way  of  salvation  by  Jesus 
Christ. 

During  this  month,  one  of  the  most  promising  of  our  inquir- 
ers died.  He  was  old  and  decrepit,  had  a  presentiment  that  he 
should  soon  die,  and  eagerly  sought  to  be  baptized.  Late  one 
evening  I  heard  that  he  was  more  ill,  and  he  begged  to  be  bap- 
tized before  he  died.  I  assented  to  the  request,  and  appointed 
the  next  morning  for  the  administering  of  the  ordinance,  if  he 
should  not  be  better.  But  he  saw  not  the  light  of  the  morning. 
At  the  dawn,  he  was  found  dead  in  his  room.  No  one  was  with 
him,  but  he  was  heard  in  the  adjoining  room  to  cry  out  for  Bab- 
ajee, and  to  ask  some  of  his  neighbors  to  go  and  call  him.  But 
no  one  would  take  the  trouble  to  go  fifty  yards  to  call  Babajee, 
or  to  inform  me !  He  was  heard  to  call  on  the  name  of  Jesus, 
and  to  speak  of  baptism.  We  trust  he  had  obtained  mercy 
through  the  blood  of  our  Redeemer.  We  gave  his  body  a  Chris- 
tian burial  by  the  side  of  the  child  of  another  of  our  inquirers 
who  died  three  weeks  before.  The  child  was  buried  in  the 
Christian  way,  at  the  request  of  the  mother. 

On  the  10th  February,  we  baptized  four  more  Hindoos,  one  of 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  207 

whom  was  the  aged  mother  of  Dajaba.  The  native  congrega- 
tion was  addressed  on  the  subject  of  our  creed ;  each  article  ex- 
plained, and  compared  with  the  Hindoos'  creed.  An"  unusual 
attention  was  given  during  the  discourse  and  the  administration 
of  the  ordinance.  As  the  little  church  sat  around  the  table  of 
the  Lord,  it  afforded  a  spectacle  which  angels  must  contemplate 
with  delight.  Here  was  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the  power  of 
the  Gospel  to  unite  in  one,  persons  of  all  ranks,  complexions,  and 
castes.  In  this  little  company  of  ten  Hindoos,  there  were  per- 
sons of  four  different  castes ;  two  Brahmuns,  two  Purbhoos,  two 
Mahrathas,  and  four  Mhars.  Our  hearts  rejoiced  in  the  wisdom, 
the  power,  and  the  goodness  of  God,  that  he  had  suffered  our 
eyes  to  see  and  our  ears  to  hear  what  we  this  day  witnessed. 
Ride  forth,  glorious  Conqueror !  till  thou  shalt  gather  in  one,  all 
things  in  Christ;  and  make  all  men  see  what  is  the  fellowship  of 
the  mystery,  which,  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  hath  been 
hid  in  God,  who  created  all  things  by  and  for  Jesus  Christ. 

Success  in  his  labors  can  never  fail  to  give  the  missionary 
among  the  heathen  the  highest  degree  of  satisfaction  which  he 
can  experience.  Yet  it  should  never  be  forgotten,  that,  with  this 
success,  come  some  of  his  most  anxious  cares,  and  his  severest 
trials.  This  will  appear  evident  to  every  one,  the  moment  he 
contemplates  the  material  from  which  a  mission  church  is  taken. 
The  convert  to  Christianity  is  expected  to  sustain  a  character 
diametrically  opposite  to  the  customs  and  the  prejudices,  the 
practice  and  the  education,  the  views  and  the  feelings,  which  he 
imbibed  in  his  earliest  infancy.  Suppose  a  work  of  grace  actu- 
ally began  in  the  heart  of  a  Hindoo,  he  may  fall  into  sins  for 
which  he  would,  in  a  Christian  land,  forfeit  his  Christian  char- 
acter, and  still  he  may  deserve  our  kind  indulgence.  Such  are 
the  sins  of  lying  and  deception,  not  to  mention  licentiousness  and 
many  others.  Children  are  taught  to  lie  by  their  own  parents, 
and  of  course  they  feel  none  of  those  compunctious  visitings  of 
conscience,  which  persons  who  have  been  nurtured  under  the 
restraints  of  Christian  moralit}T  experience  when  they  utter  a 
falsehood.  A  native  of  India  is  so  accustomed  to  use  truth  and 


208  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

falsehood  indiscriminately,  as  best  suits  his  convenience  or  his 
fancy,  that  he  seems  almost  incapacitated  to  adhere  rigorously  to 
the  truth.  I  would  not  palliate  the  crime,  but  would  pardon  the 
missionary  for  treating  the  unfortunate  creature  with  indulgence. 
Even  at  this  early  period,  we  were  obliged  to  discipline  one  of 
our  members  for  lying.  Being  detected,  he  confessed  his  fault, 
asked  forgiveness,  and  received  admonition. 

The  4th  of  March  also  forms  an  era  in  the  Ahmednuggur 
mission.  "We  met  on-  that  day,  according  to  previous  appoint- 
ment, to  organize  ourselves  into  a  church,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
form  a  society  for  the  promotion  of  Christian  morals.  We  had 
heretofore  existed  as  a  branch  of  the  Mission  Church  at  Bombay. 
After  mature  deliberation,  we  fixed  on  the  Presbyterian  form  of 
government,  as  best  suited  to  the  circumstances  of  a  church 
among  the  heathen.  A  brief  confession  of  faith  had  been  pre- 
pared for  the  occasion.  Babajee  had  been  proposed  for  an  elder 
and  Dajaba  as  a  deacon.  Having  explained  the  nature  of  a 
community  called  a  church,  and  the  duty  and  privilege  of  uniting 
in  this  capacity,  we  proceeded  to  adopt  the  articles  of  faith,  and 
to  unite  ourselves  in  solemn  covenant  before  God,  to  aid,  com- 
fort, and  edify  one  another.  Babajee  and  Dajaba  were  then 
ordained  to  their  respective  offices,  by  prayer  and  the  imposition 
of  hands ;  and  the  services  closed  with  thanksgiving  to  Almighty 
God,  and  supplications  to  the  great  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of 
souls,  that  he  would  keep  this  little  flock  in  the  midst  of  this 
dark,  howling  wilderness,  and  make  them  to  lie  down  in  green 
pastures,  and  lead  them  by  the  side  of  still  waters.  The  whole 
services  were  intensely  solemn,  and  full  of  interest  to  air  who 
dosiro  and  labor  for  the  salvation  of  the  heathen.  The  teachers 
of  our  schools,  the  inmates  of  the  asylum,  and  several  from  the 
town,  were  present.  Such  occasions,  which,  to  the  missionary 
in  India,  are  "  few  and  far  between,"  are,  no  doubt,  designed,  by 
a  good  Providence,  as  a  kind  of  compensation  for  the  trials  and 
discouragements  of  a  missionary  life.  Faithless  mortals  we  are, 
that  we  tire  and  faint,  if  God  do  not  almost  continually  give  us 
some  visible  token  that  our  labors  are  not  in  vain.  We  are  not 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  209 

willing  to  wait,  even  when  we  have  his  word  for  it,  that  the 
faithful  ministration  of  his  truth  shall  never  be  in  vain. 

These  were  the  brightest  days  of  this  infant  mission.  A  cloud 
hung  over  us.  One  of  our  number  had  but  recently  arrived  in 
the  country,  and  the  other  was  obliged  to  leave  on  account  of 
ill  health.  Nor  was  this  so  severe  a  calamity,  while  Babajee, 
under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  B.,  was  prosecuting  the  ordinary 
labors  of  the  mission.  But,  alas !  his  work  was  almost  done. 
He  fell  a  victim  to  the  cholera.  His  death,  produced  a  sensation 
among  the  members  of  the  church  and  the  inmates  of  the  asy- 
lum, which,  for  a  time,  we  feared  would  be  followed  by  disas- 
trous consequences.  They  thought  all  was  lost,  and  were  thrown 
into  despair.  They  supposed  the  church  must  be  disbanded,  and 
the  mission  broken  up.  This  is  all  perfectly  characteristic  of 
the  people,  and  bears  some  resemblance  to  the  conduct  of  Chris- 
tian converts  in  another  part  of  Asia  many  centuries  ago. 
When  their  head  was  seized  and  taken  away  from  them,  "they 
all  forsook  Him  and  fled."  They  gave  up  all  for  lost. 

The  operations  of  the  mission  went  on  with  much  less  change 
than  our  native  friends  had  thought  possible.  The  poignancy 
of  their  grief  was  soon  abated,  and  their  hopes  revived.  The 
consequences  of  Babajee's  death,  though  less  disastrous  than 
they  had  supposed,  were  still  of  a  serious  nature.  Our  converts 
were  not  yet  well  grounded  in  the  faith.  In  every  thing  they 
were  but  children,  and  needed  to  be  led  by  the  hand.  The  inti- 
mate communication  between  them  and  us  was  now,  in  a  great 
degree,  broken  off.  Babajee  had  watched  over  them  as  a  father, 
and  had  that  near  access  to  their  hearts  which  it  is  impossible 
that  a  foreigner  should  have.  His  wife,  in  particular,  had  been 
borne  on  in  her  Christian  course  very  much  by  him.  She  now 
oftentimes  became  restless  and  dissatisfied,  and  in  several  in- 
stances gave  us  occasion  to  reprove  her  for  unbecoming  conduct. 
She  was  sometimes  seen  in  the  streets  adorned  with  a  profusion 
of  jewels,  and  her  face  and  forehead  disfigured  with  heathenish 
marks.  She  generally  received  our  admonitions  with  kindness, 
and  reformed  of  the  specified  fault. 
14 


210  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

El  health  in  the  mission  families,  and  other  disasters,  con- 
tinued to  impede  the  progress  of  our  work.  During  our  absence 
to  the  Hills,  our  "  hired  house  "  was  burnt,  and  we  were  on  this 
account  obliged  to  live  at  an  undue  distance  from  our  labors,  and 
consequently  were  separated  so  far  from  our  converts  that  we 
could  not  exercise  over  them  the  necessary  vigilance.  No  house 
could  be  obtained  at  that  time  nearer  than  three  miles  from  the 
town. 

Of  the  different  means  which  have  been  employed  at  this  sta- 
tion, the  direct  preaching  of  the  Gospel  has  been  regarded  as  by  far 
the  most  important.  It  is  through  this  that  we  must  look  for  the 
salvation  of  the  Hindoos.  And,  surrounded  as  we  are  there  by 
a  numerous  population  in  the  vicinity,  who  have  never  before 
heard  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  we  have  regarded  itineracies 
as  a  very  prominent  department  of  our  labors.  During  the  first 
three  years  of  the  mission,  sixteen  preaching  towns  were  made, 
2,200  miles  traveled  over,  230  towns  and  villages  visited,  most  of 
which  had  never  heard  the  voice  of  a  missionary  before. 

I  do  not  mean  that  preaching  at  one's  own  station  may  ever 
be  regarded  as  a  matter  of  indifference,  or  of  little  importance. 
It  should  always  be  vigorously  sustained — and  constantly,  if  the 
number  of  the  missionaries  and  assistants  be  sufficient  to  sustain 
it  in  the  absence  of  those  who  are  able  to  travel.  There  is  only 
about  one-third  part  of  the  year  when  a  missionary  can,  without 
great  hazard  of  health  and  life,  be  engaged  in  itineracies.  Dur- 
ing this  period,  every  missionary  ought,  in  my  opinion,  to  itinerate, 
wliether  the  regular  duties  of  his  station  be  continued  or  sus- 
pended. He  only  leaves,  for  three  or  four  months,  a  town  where 
lliis  efforts  have  been  expended  for  eight  or  nine  months,  in  order 
to  preach  in  a  hundred  other  towns  or  villages,  where  he  will  be 
able  to  present  the  Gospel  to  a  hundred-fold  more  heathen,  and, 
oftentimes,  under  greater  advantages  than  he  could  in  the  place 
of  his  residence. 

The  manner  of  preaching  at  Ahmednuggur,  as  to  time  and 
place,  has  been  different  at  different  times.  For  several  months 
after  our  first  arrival,  we  went  daily  into  the  streets,  and  into 


DTDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  211 

places  of  concourse,  such  as  temples,  markets,  and  travelers'  stop- 
ping places.  We  liere  collected  large  assemblies,  and  generally 
found  them  orderly  and  attentive.  But  when  the  novelty  of  the 
thing  had  passed  off,  and,  more  especially,  when  the  Brahmuns, 
and  the  influential  part  of  the  community,  discovered  the  object 
of  our  labors,  they  made  this  mode  of  preaching  so  uncomfort- 
able to  us,  and  apparently  so  useless,  that  we  gradually  relin- 
quished it.  To  suffer  ourselves  to  be  treated  with  indignity,  in 
situations  where  we  could  expect  no  redress,  when  we  had  other 
means  of  accomplishing  our  purposes,  seemed  inconsistent  with 
the  dignity  of  the  Gospel,  or  of  its  ministers.  Had  we  com- 
plained to  the  proper  authorities,  the  natives  might  affirm  that 
our  collecting  public  assemblies  at  their  temples,  or  in  the  streets, 
or  near  their  shops  or  houses,  was  a  nuisance.  We  therefore 
procured  ground  in  eligible  places,  and  erected  sheds,  where  we 
appointed  religious  services  on  specified  evenings  of  the  week, 
and  on  the  Sabbath.  We  went  to  these  places  about  an  hour 
before  sunset,  and  addressed  all  who  came.  Here,  being  on  our 
own  ground,  we  could  adopt  and  support  our  own  rules ;  and 
we  generally  found  it  sufficient  to  say,  occasionally,  to  a  company 
of  reckless  Brahmuns,  who  would,  not  unfrequently,  come  to 
cavil  or  wrangle,  that  they  must  remain  quiet  till  the  conclusion 
of  the  service,  when  they  should  have  an  opportunity  to  propose 
questions,  and  to  enter  into  a  dispassionate  discussion  if  they 
pleased.  Sometimes  they  would  remain,  but  more  frequently 
retire,  defeated  in  the  object  for  which  they  came. 

It  only  remains  to  speak  of  schools.  We  employed  schools  in 
•the  furtherance  of  the  objects  of  the  mission,  as  far  as  we 
thought  it  could  be  done  to  advantage.  We  never  have  entered 
extensively  into  this  mode  of  spreading  the  Gospel.  The  reason 
of  this  will  appear  in  what  follows.  A  school  taught  by  a 
heathen  teacher,  in  order  to  justify  its  being  supported  from  mis- 
sionary funds,  should  have  a  most  vigilant  superintendence.  It 
should  be  visited  by  the  missionary  daily.  It  is  needless  to  say 
that  a  heathen  teacher  will  teach  Christianity  no  farther  than  he 
is  obliged,  in  order  to  retain  his  place.  The  regulations  of  the 

. 

I  V 

•  *  Jir; 


212  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

school  system  require  that  the  children  be  taught  the  catechism, 
the  commandments,  prayers,  and  hymns.  These  he  will  of 
course  teach  them.  But  this  is  a  heartless  business.  A  single 
word  from  the  teacher  is  enough  to  do  away  any  impression 
which  might  have  been  made.  It  should  always  be  a  maxim  in 
our  efforts  to  do  good,  that  if  we  cannot  do  what  we  wish,  we 
must  do  what  we  can.  Acting,  or  rather  overacting,  on  this 
maxim,  missionaries  in  this  part  of  India  have  formerly  fallen 
into  an  error,  in  establishing  too  many  schools.  The  conse- 
quence was,  that  such  schools  were  left  very  much  under  the 
control  of  their  heathen  teachers.  Some  were  visited  by  a  mis- 
sionary once  a  week,  others  once  a  month,  and  others,  which 
were  at  a  distance,  but  once  or  twice  a  year.  Whereas  the  true 
policy  of  such  a  maxim,  undoubtedly,  is  to  have  no  more  schools 
than  can  enjoy  a  constant  and  vigorous  superintendence  by  the 
missionary.  And  he  should  ever  bear  it  in  mind,  that  the  direct 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  is  to  be  his  most  prominent  duty  as  a 
Gospel  minister. 

Female  education  is  in  many  respects  a  matter  more  to  be 
desired  by  a  mission,  than  the  education  of  boys.  Besides  the 
mental  improvement  in  either  case,  the  education  of  the  female 
sex  strikes  at  an  inveterate  prejudice,  and  opens  an  almost  un- 
heard of  field  of  enterprise  to  the  long  neglected  mind  of  the 
Hindoo  woman.  On  this  account,  we  were  particularly  desirous 
to  establish  and  support  female  schools.  Were  such  schools 
merely  of  a  literary  character,  an  important  object  is  gained  in 
sustaining  them.  There  are,  however,  the  same  drawbacks  in 
the  prosecution  of  this  part  of  our  system  of  schools,  as  have 
been  mentioned  in  reference  to  boys'  schools ;  together  with  an 
additional  one,  of  still  greater  difficulty :  I  mean  the  want  of  any 
desire,  on  the  part  of  parents,  to  have  their  girls  educated.  They 
fear  it  as  a  calamity ;  but  submit  to  it  on  account  of  the  pecu- 
niary benefits  which  will  accrue  by  way  of  presents,  and  other- 
wise. Where  female  schools  have  become  common,  as  is  the 
case  in  Bombay,  the  children,  doubtless,  feel  a  degree  of  attach- 
ment to  their  schools ;  and  some  of  them  attend  and  learn,  not 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  213 

by  restraint,  but  with  pleasure ;  and  their  fathers,  not  unlikely, 
feel  gratified  with  their  attainments,  and  wish  them  to  continue 
in  school  till  claimed  by  their  husbands,  at  the  age  of  about 
twelve  years.  Yet,  if  additional  pay  were  not  given  to  the 
teacher  of  a  female  school,  and  presents  to  the  girls  in  general 
were  not  held  out  as  inducements  to  regular  and  prompt  attend- 
ance, there  would  not,  probably,  be  a  female  school,  after  three 
months,  in  this  part  of  India.  In  accordance  with  this  plan, 
which  was  probably  the  only  feasible  one,  we  sustained  a  few 
female  schools  in  Ahmednuggur.  These  were  supported  by  the 
contributions  of  the  English  ladies  at  the  station. 

The  natives  of  India  are  very  desirous  to  learn  the  English 
language,  and  fathers  wish  to  have  their  sons  educated  in  it. 
Their  object,  in  general,  is  neither  literature,  science,  a  love  of 
study,  nor  religion  —  but  money.  If  they  have  a  knowledge  of 
the  English  language,  they  may  obtain  some  lucrative  situation 
in  the  service  of  government.  Such  a  school  will  serve  to  show 
the  people  that  we  are  their  friends,  and  are  willing  to  aid  them, 
whenever  we  can,  in  their  temporal  as  well  as  in  their  spiritual 
concerns;  and  it  affords,  to  say  the  least,  as  good  an  opportu- 
nity as  a  Mahratha  school  for  the  communication  of  religious 
instruction. 

The  following  anecdote  will  show  how  exceedingly  sensitive 
the  people  at  Ahmednuggur  were,  at  that  time,  on  the  subject  of 
Christianity.  The  school  contained  about  thirty  scholars;  but 
in  a  day  or  two  it  was  reduced  to  fifteen.  The  cause  of  the  sud- 
den decrease  was  this :  The  boys  had  been  supplied,  at  a  very 
low  price,  with  the  American  Sunday  School  spelling-books. 
Spelling-books,  on  account  of  their  scarcity,  and  the  demand 
created  by  the  great  desire  to  learn  English,  are  much  sought 
after ;  and,  consequently,  the  boys  were  much  pleased  when  they 
obtained  them.  After  a  few  days,  they  discovered  that  these 
books  were  of  a  religious  character ;  and  the  Hindoo  boys  forth- 
with left  the  schools,  without  assigning  any  reason.  A  few  days 
after,  some  of  these  boys  called  on  a  member  of  the  mission,  who 
inquired  why  they  had  left  the  school.  They  replied  that  the 


214  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

new  spelling-books  contained  something  about  Jesus  Christ;  and, 
on  that  account,  they  said  they  could  not  use  them.  They  were 
asked  to  point  out  any  tiling  in  the  books  which  they  thought 
objectionable ;  and  they  happened  to  open  at  a  place  where  it 
was  written:  "Jesus  said  to  them,  Come  unto  me  all  ye  that 
labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest." 

The  strong-hold  of  caste  must  first  be  loosened,  or  the  people 
must  see  themselves  compelled  to  such  a  course  by  poverty,  or 
they  must  feel  the  influences  of  Christianity  on  their  hearts,  be- 
fore they  will  yield  to  better  influences.  How  soon  the  latter 
motive  will  influence  them,  is  known  only  to  God;  but  if  an 
angel  of  deliverance  do  not  spring  up  from  some  quarter,  fright- 
•  ful  poverty  will  soon  drive  the  people  of  India  to  desperation. 
Should  He  who  directs  the  hearts  and  governs  the  actions  of  all 
men,  bring  them,  in  their  extremity,  to  those  who,  in  his  provi- 
dence,, are  sent  thither  to  succor  the  distressed,  then  hundreds 
and  thousands  may  flock  to  the  missionaries,  give  up  their  chil- 
dren to  be  supported  and  educated,  and  give  up  themselves  to 
serve  the  Father  of  all  their  mercies. 

Sometimes  I  seem  to  see  this  happy  day  arrived.  But  again, 
fearing  that  devoted  India  has  not  yet  drunken  her  full  cup  of 
Divine  wrath,  I  see  the  work  of  oppression  still  going  on,  till  the 
high  and  the  low,  the  weak  and  the  strong,  in  their  desperate 
struggle  —  some  for  pride,  and  more  for  the  bare  necessities  of 
life  —  devour  and  be  devoured.  The  numerous  bands  of  maraud- 
ers which  still  infest  every  part  of  the  country,  afford  the  despe- 
rate every  facility  for  such  an  awful  enterprise.  A  change  must, 
ere  long,  take  place.  "While  the  Divine  mercy  is  withheld,  or 
the  Divine  indignation  is  suspended,  while  the  cloud  which  hangs 
over  India  does  not  burst,  we  will  hope  it  is  a  cloud  of  mercy. 
It  looks  black ;  it  is  streaked  with  vivid  lightnings ;  a  threaten- 
ing voice  is  heard ;  yet  these  may  be  but  the  awful  manifestations 
of  Omnipotence,  coming  in  mercy,  but  displaying  the  fierceness 
of  his  countenance  to  a  people  who  have  so  long  abused  his 
mercy,  and  trampled  his  honor  in  the  dust.  "While  we  hope  that 
the  change  which  is  working  in  India  will,  in  the  providence  of 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  215 

God,  be  overruled  for  her  spiritual  deliverance,  we  ought  to  labor 
and  pray,  relying  on  the  sure  promises  of  God  that  the  fervent 
prayers  and  the  faithful  labors  of  his  servants  shall  never  be  in 
vain.  "We  ground  our  hope  on  the  broad  foundation  of  the  Di- 
vine promises.  Their  fulfillment  may  be  deferred,  but  they  can- 
not fail.  The  kingdom,  and  the  dominion,  and  the  greatness 
of  the  kingdom  under  the  whole  heavens,  shall  be  given  to  the 
people  of  the  saints  of  the  Most  High,  whose  kingdom  shall  be 
an  everlasting  kingdom,  and  all  dominions  shall  serve  and' obey 
him. 

It  will  suffice  to  add,  that  the  past  success  and  the  present  pros- 
perous condition  of  the  Ahmednuggur  mission  has  delightfully 
realized  the  hopes  of  its  auspicious  beginning. 

Already  has  the  Ahmednuggur  mission  expanded  into  three 
separate  missions,  viz:  Ahmednuggur,  Seroor,  and  Kolapoor. 
While  the  latter  two  has  each  its  missionaries,  its  assistants,  its 
church,  schools  and  teachers,  the  original  mission  has  its  four 
stations,  eleven  out-stations,  five  missionaries,  six  female  assist- 
ants, two  native  pastors,  and  twenty-nine  helpers.  And  the  lit- 
tle church  organized  in  Ahmednuggur  in  1833,  with  about  a 
dozen  members,  has  expanded  into  the  first  and  second  church  *~- 
of  Ahmednuggur,  and  five  other  churches  at  out-stations,  num- 
bering in  all  194  members.  The  mother  church  alone  numbers 
eighty-four;  and  the  whole  number  that  have  been  admitted 
from  the  beginning  is  215. 

A  great  work  has  been  done  in  that  extreme  diocese  by  verbal 
preaching.  For  nearly  100  miles,  in  every  direction,  the  laborers 
in  that  field  have  faithfully  and  indefatigably  traveled  and 
preached  in  a  thousand  towns  and  villages,  and  have  not  failed 
to  reap  a  rich  harvest.  Yet  I  am  not  sure  but  they  have  done  as 
great,  and  a  more  permanent  work  still,  through  the  printed 
page.  They  have  prepared  and  diffused  a  Christian  literature 
through  the  vernacular  languages,  which  has  laid  a  deep  and 
broad  foundation  for  all  time  to  come.  A  great  preparatory 
work  has  been  done,  and  we  confidently  look  for  a  corresponding 
glorious  result.  The  missionaries  speak  of  finding  everywhere 


216  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

"  a  growing  desire  for  knowledge  throughout  their  vast  field;  and 
of  a  marked  change  in  the  accessibility  of  the  higher  castes  to 
the  various  labors  of  the  missionary." 

There  are  connected  with  the  central  mission,  primary  schools, 
a  high  school,  and  an  efficient  corps  of  laborers,  who  are  bring- 
ing to  bear  on  a  wide  field  the  munitions  of  the  spiritual  warfare ; 
and  from  this  favored  centre  has  radiated  the  light  of  truth,  till 
the  whole  region  around  about  is  in  the  way  of  a  successful  evan- 
gelization. Churches  have  their  native  pastors,  and  are,  in  their 
turn,  raising  up  and  sending  forth  teachers  and  preachers  to  the 
regions  beyond. 

May  God  bless  those  indefatigable  men  and  women;  and 
should  they,  in  the  fearful  commotions  which  may  there  betide, 
before  the  great  Moloch  of  the  land  shall  yield  his  possessions  of 
forty  centuries,  be  called,  as  other  of  their  co-laborers  have  been, 
to  seal  their  testimony  with  a  martyr's  blood,  may  they  be  found 
armed  with  a  martyr's  faith.  They  know  who  has  said:  "Be 
faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  you  a  crown  of  life." 


CHAPTER    XV. 

Duplicity  of  the  Hindoos  —  Danger  of  misrepresentation  in  reports  concerning 
them  —  Two  ways  of  relating  facts  —  A  little  Note  sometimes  needed. 

IN  the  preparation  of  this  article  my  object  is  two-fold:  first, 
to  illustrate  the  character  of  the  natives  of  India;  and,  second, 
to  do  it  in  such  a  manner  that  the  reader  may  see  how  easy  it  is 
for  him  to  misapprehend  their  real  character,  even  with  the  best 
written  documents  before  him.  Bearing  in  mind  these  two  ob- 
jects, I  shall  relate  several  facts,  the  most  of  which  fell  under  my 
own  observation,  and  the  others  are  well  attested  by  persons  of 
long  experience  in  the  country.  I  shall  first  mention  the  facts  as 
they  might  be  recorded  with  a  species  of  truth,  (that  is,  half  the 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  217 

truth,  or  truth  as  far  as  it  goes,)  and  as  they  often  are  recorded 
by  the  partial  observer,  who  either  does  not  learn  the  end  of  his 
tale,  or,  if  he  does,  neglects  to  record  it;  and  then  I  shall  note 
other  important  circumstances  of  the  different  cases,  which  will 
give  the  whole  a  totally  different  aspect.  I  adopt  this  method, 
not  to  censure  the  credulity  of  a  liberal  public,  who  are,  perhaps, 
too  ready  to  believe  what  they  most  devoutly  wish  to  be  true ; 
nor  to  censure  the  too  charitable  views  which  the  missionary,  in 
the  midst  of  a  perverse  and  gainsaying  people,  takes  of  the  case 
of  an  inquirer,  or  of  a  convert ;  but  I  wish  to  caution  the  Chris- 
tian public  against  receiving  intelligence  from  a  foreign  land 
without  the  same  limitations  with  which  they  would  receive  in- 
telligence from  a  distant  section  of  their  own  country  under  simi- 
lar circumstances. 

Human  nature  is  radically  the  same  everywhere.  The  Bible, 
however,  has  made  an  essential  difference  among  men.  A  person 
tolerably  acquainted  with  human  depravity  in  a  Christian  land 
may,  by  deducting  what  has  been  derived  there  from  the  Bible, 
approximate,  in  some  good  degree,  to  human  depravity  in  a 
heathen  land.  It  would  seem  that  a  person  might,  by  keeping 
in  view  a  few  well  known  and  acknowledged  principles  in  human 
character,  judge  pretty  correctly  what  limitations  he  ought  to 
make  when  reading  accounts  of  the  labors  and  successes  of  mis- 
sions in  India.  He  has  been  repeatedly  advertised  that  the  Hin- 
doos are  deceitful,  false,  selfish,  and  devoted  to  the  most  debasing 
system  of  idolatry ;  yea,  he  has  been  assured  that  the  Hindoos 
are  guilty  of  every  sin  enumerated  by  St.  Paul  in  the  first  chap- 
ter of  his  epistle  to  the  Romans.  He  reads  in  the  letters  and 
journals  of  missionaries,  that  so  many  thousands  of  tracts  and 
portions  of  the  Scriptures  are  distributed ;  so  many  villages  and 
towns  visited ;  so  many  thousands  of  people  for  the  first  time 
brought  under  the  sound  of  the  Gospel ;  and  so  many  children  in 
schools  reading  Christian  books,  and  repeating  Christian  cate- 
chisms, hymns  and  prayers.  He  rejoices  at  these  things,  and 
ought  to  rejoice  at  them  as  the  most  probable  means  of  success. 
But  he  is  not,  on  this  account,  bound  to  make  a  compromise 


218  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

with  common  sense  and  common  experience,  and  to  suppose  that 
these  hooks,  which  are  often  so  eagerly  sought  for,  and  so  gladly 
received,  are  half  of  them  ever  read  or  valued  on  account  of  the 
truth  which  they  contain ;  or  that  all  the  people  who  often  crowd 
around  the  missionary  have  any  respect  for  the  truth  he  delivers, 
or  that  the  children  in  our  schools,  while  they  are  ostensibly 
taught  Christianity,  may  not,  at  the  same  time,  be  taught  to  con- 
temn the  very  truth  which  they  commit  to  memory ;  or  that  a 
person  who  presents  himself  as  an  inquirer  after  the  truth,  or 
professes  himself  a  convert,  has  necessarily  a  regard  for  the  truth, 
or  any  intention  to  practice  according  to  his  profession.  To  sup- 
pose that  things  are  otherwise,  is  to  suppose  that  to  be  true  in  a 
heathen  land,  in  reference  to  the  success  of  the  Gospel,  which  is 
not  true  in  a  Christian  land. 

"We  hope,  pray,  and  labor  for  the  conversion  of  India;  but,  till 
power  from  on  high  shall  be  given  to  move  the  idolater's  heart, 
all  human  means  will  be  despised  and  rejected  of  men.  In  the 
day  of  God's  power,  these  same  means  shall  be  mighty  to  the 
pulling  down  of  the  strongholds  of  idolatry.  Reports  too  favor- 
able may  in  many  instances  be  made,  without  attaching  any 
blame  to  the  missionary  who  makes  them.  It  is  impossible  for 
him  to  fathom  the  bottomless  pit  of  hypocrisy  with  which  a  na- 
tive's heart  is  peculiarly  filled.  Still,  he  is  without  apology,  if  he 
relate  facts,  without  their  accompanying  circumstances,  in  such 
a  way  as  to  lead  his  absent  friends  to  believe  that  there  exists  a 
state  of  things  which,  indeed,  has  no  existence.  I  might,  for  ex- 
ample, make  an  entry  in  my  journal,  on  a  certain  day,  thus : 
"  "Went  into  the  village — preached  to  a  very  attentive  audience — 
distributed  a  thousand  tracts — the  people  were  so  eager  for 
books,  that  I  was  obliged  to  stand  on  the  steps  of  the  temple, 
and  have  persons  to  keep  the  crowd  from  pressing  on  me,  while 
I  made  a  judicious  distribution  of  the  books.  I  could  not  supply 
the  demand."  All  this  might  be  strictly  true  —  not  a  circum- 
stance exaggerated.  But  note:  "Three  days  after  my  departure, 
I  was  informed  that,  at  the  instigation  of  the  Brahmuns,  every 
book  in  the  village  was  collected  and  burnt,  and  the  whole  village 


INDIA   AND   ITS    PEOPLE. 


219 


in  an  uproar."  This  has  often  occurred,  and  too  often  been  over- 
looked or  omitted  by  the  missionary  in  making  out  his  report. 
He  may  fear  to  develop  the  whole  of  the  dark  side  of  the  picture, 
lest  he  should  thereby  dishearten  some  timid  brother,  who  might 
be  induced  to  reinforce  the  Indian  mission.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  who  that  has  witnessed  the  sad  effects  which  too  often  fol- 
low disappointments  arising  from  decisions  made  on  partial  state- 
ments or  misrepresentations,  would  not  deprecate  the  thought  of 
increasing  the  number  of  laborers  on  such  a  principle?  Such 
helpers  can  be  of  no  great  avail. 

The  method  of  relating  the  following  anecdotes,  which  I  have 
chosen,  will,  if  I  mistake  not,  strikingly  illustrate  the  trait  of 
character  of  which  I  am  speaking.  I  shall,  in  the  first  place, 
give  the  facts  as  they  actually  occurred,  and  as  they  would  ap- 
pear to  any  person  who  should  regard  himself  as  dealing  with 
honest  men;  and  then  I  shall  note  the  result  as  it  afterwards 
occurred. 

A  short  time  after  our  arrival  at  Ahmednuggur,  Mr.  Graves 
wished  to  employ  a  learned  Brahmun  to  assist  in  the  translation 
of  the  Scriptures.  Several  who,  on  examination,  were  found 
incompetent,  were  rejected.  It  was  well  known  to  the  candi- 
dates \vho  offered  themselves,  that,  whoever  should  be  employed, 
must,  as  a  condition  of  service,  attend  Divine  worship  with  us 
on  the  Sabbath.  A  Brahmun  was  at  length  taken  on  probation. 
After  having  heard  the  Gospel  preached  for  one  or  two  Sabbaths, 
and  become  acquainted  with  our  mode  of  worship,  both  public 
and  private,  he  declared  to  Mr.  Graves  that  the  sound  of  the 
Gospel  was  perfect  melody  to  his  ear;  that  it  was  to  him  good 
news  of  great  joy;  and  he  esteemed  it  a  peculiar  privilege  that 
he  had  at  length  met  with  a  man  from  whom  he  might  daily 
hear  the  good  words  of  salvation.  He  would  rather,  he  said, 
serve  Mr.  G.  gratuitously,  than  be  deprived  of  his  instructions. 
Note :  As  soon  as  this  man  had  secured  service  in  the  mission,  h© 
manifested,  in  the  absence  of  Mr.  G.,  a  most  marked  contempt 
for  the  Gospel.  He  often  did  not  even  preserve  an  outward  de- 
cency, in  the  midst  of  the  most  solemn  part  of  the  service ;  and 


220  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

it  was  reported  that  he  stirred  up  the  people  against  us  in  the 
town. 

Another  Brahmun,  employed  by  a  member  of  the  mission  as 
a  writer,  was  so  pleased  to  be  in  the  service  of  a  missionary,  and 
to  hear  the  word  of  God  from  him,  that  he  declared  he  would, 
in  case  of  being  dismissed  from  his  present  situation,  come  and 
sit  at  the  door  of  the  missionary  from  morning  till  evening, 
though  he  could  gain  nothing  by  it,  but  to  be  near  so  good  a 
man.  Note :  This  man  has  given  his  employer  a  deal  of  trouble. 
As  soon  as  he  thought  himself  firmly  settled  in  our  service,  he 
put  on  the  most  ridiculous  airs  of  importance.  Be  pretended  to 
be  so  scrupulous  about  his  own  religion,  that  if  a  man  of  low 
caste  came  into  the  house  where  he  was,  he  was  obliged  to  go 
out ;  or  if  the  table  were  laid  for  dinner  in  his  presence,  he  would 
instantly  quit  his  work,  and  go  away.  When  it  was  intimated 
to  him  that  the  business  for  which  he  was  employed  was  nearly 
completed,  and  his  services  would  not  much  longer  be  required, 
hia  feelings  on  the  subject  of  Christianity  changed  for  the  better 
immediately.  But  when  he  saw  his  work  drawing  to  a  close, 
and  knew  he  could  have  no  farther  service,  he  threw  off  the  dis- 
guise, and  became  so  openly  contemptuous  and  indecent,  during 
the  service  on  the  Sabbath,  that  he  was  discharged  before  he  had 
finished  his  work. 

Mrs.  Eead  one  day  sent  for  the  girls  of  her  school  to  come  to 
her  at  five  o'clock  in  the  evening.  Long  before  the  appointed 
hour,  they  were  all  seated  on  the  veranda.  I  inquired  why 
they  had  come  so  soon,  as  it  was  then  so  warm  that  Mrs.  R. 
could  not  come  out.  The  teacher  said,  "  he  could  scarcely  re- 
strain them  from  coming  sooner,  they  were  so  anxious  to  meet 
Madam  —  that  they  loved  her  as  their  own  mother,  and  could 
not  be  persuaded  to  go  for  their  dinner  till  they  had  complied 
with  her  request."  When  she  came  out  to  them,  they  gathered 
around  her  with  the  greatest  eagerness  —  said  they  were  delight 
ed  to  attend  school — were  most  happy  to  learn  to  read,  and 
owed  everything  to  her.  Note :  The  girls  had  come  for  their 
presents,  or,  more  properly,  their  pay  for  attending  school  —  tho 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  221 

only  means  by  which  a  girl  in  Nuggar  could  be  induced  to  attend 
school  a  single  day.  If  one  of  these  girls  failed,  through  delin- 
quency, to  receive  her  present,  or  lose  her  allowance  of  four  pice 
per  week,  she  would  instantly  be  angry,  and  impudently  declare 
that  she  will  no  longer  attend  school.  Her  parents  support  her 
in  this  resolution,  and  she  does  nothing  but  rail  against  the 
school  for  about  a  week,  when  she  returns.  Though  this  was 
the  only  stimulant  that  we  could  then  bring  to  bear  on  the  minds 
of  either  parents  or  children,  we  did  not  despair  of  seeing  good 
result  from  them ;  and  especially  as  they  are  supported  by  the 
voluntary  contributions  of  English  ladies  at  the  station,  we 
thought  it  quite  worth  our  while  to  sustain  them. 

Two  of  the  most  learned  Brahmuns  in  Ahmednuggur  came  to 
Mr.  Hervey  a  few  days  before  his  death,  and  conversed  with  him 
in  the  most  flattering  manner  on  the  probable  success  of  the 
Gospel  in  Ahmednuggur.  They  said  it  was  well  understood  by 
the  people  that  the  mission  was  .established,  here  for  the  express 
purpose  of  overthrowing  Hindooism,  and  that  every  body  sat 
quietly  expecting  the  event.  They  believed,  they  said,  that  in 
three  years  the  Christian  religion  would  prevail  over  all  others 
in  India,  and  they  wished  to  cast  in  their  lot  with  the  mission- 
aries. They  expressed  great  gratification  in  the  progress  which 
Mr.  H.  had  made  in  acquiring  their  language.  They  hoped  and 
believed  he  would  very  soon  be  able  to  speak  it  with  fluency, 
and  be  long  useful  to  their  countrymen.  Note :  These  were  two 
pundits,  one  in  Mr.  Hervey's  service ;  and  all  this  nonsense, 
which  cost  the  two  friends  an  hour's  idle  talk,  was  only  prefa- 
tory to  the  main  object  of  the  visit.  The  one  in  service  wished 
to  be  absent  a  month  to  celebrate  the  nuptial  rites  of  his  sister's 
marriage,  a  child  seven  years  old ;  and  he  feared  Mr.  H.  might 
jmploy  another  man  during  his  absence,  who  might  afterwards 
be  retained.  His  object  was  to  get  a  promise  that  he  should  be 
taken  into  service  after  his  return.  They  seldom  trust  to  open 
and  fair  means.  I  knew  a  Brahmun,  who  came  to  me  every  day 
for  a  week,  professedly  to  hear  the  Gospel,  (who  was  at  the  same 
time  violently  opposed  to  Christianity,)  but  really,  as  it  afterwards 


222  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

appeared,  only  to  induce  me  to  lend  him  a  rupee,  which  he  pro- 
bably would  never  pay. 

I  might  here  give  scores  of  similar  instances.  The  two  Brah- 
muus  above  mentioned  are  both  proud,  bigoted  priests,  and  are, 
we  have  too  much  reason  to  believe,  the  greatest  revilers  of 
Christianity  in  the  place.  Such  shameless  duplicity  do  the 
Brahmuns  practice. 

It  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  Brahmuns  of  respectability  to 
come  and  acknowledge  their  conviction  of  the  truth  of  our  re- 
ligion, and  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  and  to  avow  the 
falsity  of  their  own  religion  and  sacred  books.  They  will  some- 
times be  present  at  our  morning  service,  and  not  only  assent  to 
what  we  say  themselves,  but  declare  to  the  people  that  our 

preaching  is  good  and  our  religion   true.     Mr.  1ST ,  of  the 

Scottish  mission,  relates  the  following  fact,  which  occurred  while 
on  a  tour  in  the  Deckan :  "  After  we  had  returned  from  preach- 
ing in  the  village,  a  Brahmun  came  and  sat  down  at  our  feet. 
He  said,  1 1  heard  you  preach  in  the  village ;  every  thing  you 
said  is  true.  Your  religion  is  good,  your  shastras  are  divine,  but 
ours  are  all  false.' "  Note:  "  All  this,"  says  Mr.  E".,  "  was  but  a 
preamble  to  an  important  petition  which  he  had  to  make.  And 
this  petition  was  no  more  nor  less  than  for  an  empty  bottle."  But 
when  he  obtained  this,  he  then  begged  it  might  be  filled.  The 
only  way  a  Hindoo  ever  manifests  gratitude  for  one  favor  is  to 
ask  for  a  greater  one. 

^  I  had  for  several  mornings  observed  a  Brahmun  of  very  respect- 
able appearance  present  at  our  Mahratha  service.  He  appeared 
to  pay  profound  attention  to  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  as- 
sented by  a  nod  to  the  remarks  which  were  made,  and  acknowl- 
edged, in  the  presence  of  the  people,  his  persuasion  of  the 
divine  origin  of  Christianity,  and  that  their  own  shastras  were 
defective,  and  in  many  things  false.  After  prayers,  he  inquired 
if  Mr.  T.  (the  collector  of  Ahmednuggur)  did  not  read  the 
Scriptures  every  morning,  and  instruct  his  serveuts,  and  others 
who  ehose  to  be  present.  On  being  informed  that  he  did,  he 
said  he  had  heard  that  Mr.  T.  was  a  true  worshiper  of  God, 


INDIA   AND    ITS    PEOPLE. 

and  lie  wished  to  hear  his  instructions.  But  as  he  was  not  ac- 
quainted with  him,  he  desired  a  note  of  introduction.  I  assured 
him  Mr.  T.  would  be  happy  to  see  him  in  his  little  assembly,  and 
that  if  his  only  object  was  to  hear  religious  instruction,  I  would 
give  him  a  note.  He  assured  me  of  the  sincerity  of  his  inten- 
tion, took  the  note  which  I  gave  him  with  much  seeming  grati- 
tude, and  went  the  next  morning  according  to  promise.  Note : 
Shortly  after  I  handed  him  the  note,  (written  in  English,)  he 
came  and  asked  me  what  I  had  written.  I  told  him  I  had  writ- 
ten what  he  requested,  a  respectful  application  for  his  admittance 
to  Mr.  T.'s  domestic  congregation  to  hear  the  word  of  God. 
"  Have  you  not  written  that  I  am  a  very  learned  man,  an  emi- 
nent Brahmun,  and  well  versed  in  government  business,  having 
been  much  in  the  service  of  Europeans  ?  "  ]STo,  I  told  him.  He 
then  insisted  on  my  enumerating  his  qualifications  for  govern- 
ment service,  and  nothing  but  a  decided  refusal  relieved  me  of 
his  importunity.  The  truth  was,  he  was  out  of  service,  and  ha(|, 
as  I  afterwards  learned,  tried  every  expedient  to  get  employ- 
ment in  some  government  office.  On  the  second  morning  he 
applied  for  a  situation  in  Mr.  T.'s  office,  making  my  note  and 
his  friendship  for  me  reasons  why  he  ought  to  be  favored  in 
preference  to  the  numerous  applicants  who  had  petitioned  for 
office  through  the  proper  channels.  Being  refused,  he  had  no 
further  inducement  to  go  to  Mr.  T.'s,  and  accordingly  was  seen 
there  no  more. 

A  Hindoo  woman  came  one  day  to  Babajee,  our  converted 
Brahmun,  and  said  she  had  heard  the  good  instruction  which  we 
daily  give  to  the  people,  and  had  become  deeply  affected  by  it. 
She  wished  to  be  near  us,  that  she  might  hear  more  of  our  "  good 
words,"  and  was  ready  to  renounce  caste  and  become  a  Christian. 
As  a  proof  of  this,  she  ate  with  Babajee  and  his  wife,  attended 
Mahratha  praj-ers,  and  evinced  an  humble,  inquiring  spirit. 
Note:  She  was  a  poor  woman,  and  had  come  with  her  two  small 
children.  When  we  told  her,  after  a  few  days,  that  we  did  not 
hire  people  to  become  Christians,  and  wished  none  to  join  us 
but  such  as  gave  evidence  of  a  new  heart  by  walking  according 


INDIA   AXD   ITS   PEOPLE. 

to  the  laws  of  God,  she  appeared  less  anxious  to  become  a 
Christian.  But  when  informed  that,  as  she  was  a  Healthy  per- 
son, and  ahle  to  support  herself  by  her  labor,  we  could  do  no 
more  than  to  give  her  some  kind  of  service,  which  would  enable 
her  to  remain  near  us,  and  receive  instruction,  she  left  us  with- 
out ceremony,  not  liking  the  proposal.  Not  a  few  are  drawn  by 
the  loaves  and  the  fishes. 

I  shall  here  add  a  few  more  anecdotes,  somewhat  different  in 
their  character,  but  illustrative  of  the  same  thing.  They  relate 
chiefly  to  the  system  of  imposition  which  everywhere  character- 
izes the  dealings  of  natives  among  themselves.  Hence  will  ap- 
pear the  sad  bondage  which  ignorance  and  superstition  have 
combined  to  impose  on  the  poor  Hindoo. 

I  have  said  the  people  of  India  have  now  for  two  centures 
been  "  devoured  by  successive  flights  of  birds  of  prey  and  pas- 
sage "  from  the  different  nations  of  Europe.  I  might  also  say 
they  nurture,  within  their  own  body  politic,  principles  and  prac- 
tices more  ruinous  to  their  own  interests,  and  more  destructive 
to  their  peace  and  happiness,  than  all  the  calamities  which  their 
foreign  foes  have  ever  inflicted.  They  are  slaves  to  their  own 
passions,  slaves  "to  their  customs,  superstitions,  and  prejudices, 
slaves  to  their  fears,  and  to  every  designing  person  who  may 
possess  either  the  power  or  the  knowledge  to  impose  on  them. 
The  will  of  a  superior  is  their  law,  and  the  arm  of  power  only 
gives  right.  Like  the  myriads  that  people  the  ocean,  they  seem 
destined  to  prey  on  each  other.  Here  each  superior  grade  feed 
on  the  inferior,  and  all,  united,  feed  on  the  weakest.  And  some 
of  these  (as  the  flying-fish)  are  not  only  devoured  in  the  water 
by  their  own  species,  but  when  they  attempt,  by  flying  into  the 
air,  to  escape  this  class  of  pursuers,  they  are  instantly  pounced 
on,  and  devoured  by  the  birds  of  prey,  which,  in  hungry  flocks, 
hover  over  the  deep,  watching  the  wars  and  commotions  of  its 
scaly  inhabitants,  and  ready  to  seize  the  unfortunate.  So  it  is 
with  the  poor  ryots  (working  classes)  in  India.  They  are  the 
common  prey.  "When  they  cannot  be  overawed  by  power,  they 
are  duped  or  terrified  by  their  superstitious  fears ;  and  what  re- 


INDIA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE.  225 

mains  to  these  wretched  beings  after  being  fleeced  by  voracious 
shoals  of  hungry  Brahmuus  and  Purbhoos,  is  devoured  by  no 
less  voracious  foreigners.  The  following  anecdotes  will  show 
how  easily  the  common  Hindoos  may  be  overreached  by  design- 
ing persons. 

When  Sir  John  Malcolm,  late  Governor  of  Bombay,  was 
traveling  in  the  upper  provinces  of  India,  it  is  reported  that  his 
head  servant  was  in  the  habit  of  terrifying  the  people  of  the 
villages  through  which  they  passed,  by  telling  them  that  it  was 
the  governor's  custom  to  have  an  infant  child  served  up  daily 
for  his  breakfast.  The  rumor  —  which,  by  the  way,  was  not 
original  with  the  servant,  for  it  was  long  ago  reported,  and  be- 
lieved to  this  day  in  the  remote  provinces,  that  the  English,  not 
content  with  eating  cows,  a  heinous  sin,  actually  eat  children  — 
produced  the  desired  effect.  It  spread  from  village  to  village; 
and  as  the  governor  approached,  the  affrighted  people  flew  to 
the  head  servant,  as  is  usual,  to  engage  him  by  bribes  and  pre- 
sents to  make  interest  with  the  governor  to  spare  their  children. 
He  would  accordingly  agree  for  such  a  sum  as  he  could  get,  to 
appease  his  master  and  spare  the  weeping  mothers. 

Oomajee  was  the  chief  of  a  band  of  marauders,  who,  as  late 
as  the  year  1830,  plundered  in  the  Deckan.  He  for  a  long  time 
eluded  the  pursuit  of  the  British  troops  by  a  series  of  arts  and 
manosuvres,  which,  if  written,  would  fill  a  volume.  Sometimes 
he  escaped  on  a  poor  native  pony,  in  the  garb  of  a  woman ; 
sometimes  he  assumed  one  disguise,  sometimes  another ;  and  it 
was  only  through  the  treachery  of  a  Hindoo,  who  professed  to 
join  his  band,  that  he  was  ever  seized.  He  seldom  undertook 
his  excursions  at  random.  He  knew  beforehand  where  the  in- 
tended booty  was  deposited,  what  its  value,  and  every  cir- 
cumstance of  the  place.  This  information  Oomajee  would  often 
get  himself  by  visiting  the  house  where  he  suspected  there  was 
treasure  or  valuable  property,  in  the  garb  of  a  religious  beggar. 
Although  this  mode  of  deception  appears  to  have  been  one  of 
the  most  common,  the  people  manifest  little  or  no  suspicion  of 

persons  in  such  a  garb.     But  what  is  more  wonderful,  the  in- 
15 


226  INDIA   AND   ITS    PEOPLE. 

habitants  of  the  very  section  of  country  where  he  had  for  some 
years  been  committing  his  ravages,  and  for  whose  security  the 
government  were  at  great  trouble  to  apprehend  him,  would 
neither  give  information  nor  assist  in  taking  him ;  which  is  sup- 
posed to  have  arisen  from  a  superstitious  fear  that  their  assist- 
ance in  the  case  would  only  bring  on  them  the  increased  venge- 
ance of  their  almost  supernatural  foe. 

The  following  may  be  taken  as  a  very  good  specimen  of  Hin- 
doo priestcraft.  I  extract  it  from  a  Calcutta  periodical :  A  mis- 
sionary, seeing  large  companies  of  women  strolling  about  the 
country,  inquires  the  cause,  and  is  informed  that  "  a  Brahmun, 
residing  some  miles  to  the  east  of  this  place  (Mungurrooh),  had 
lately  met  a  serpent,  who  directed  him  to  say  that  all  the  women 
of  India  should  forsake  their  homes  two  days  and  a  half,  which 
they  should  spend  in  begging  for  the  Brahmuns ;  in  default  of 
which,  the  offender  might  expect  a  speedy  visit  from  the  serpent. 
The  two  days  and  a  half  are  spent  in  walking  about  the  streets 
and  roads,  and  at  night  they  sleep  under  trees  in  the  vicinity  of 
a  temple." 

About  two  years  ago,  as  I  was  traveling  in  the  Deckan,  I 
chanced  to  stop  in  the  same  bungalow  with  Judge  B.  of  Pqona. 
He  has  been  in  India  some  twenty  years,  and  possesses  a  very 
just  idea  of  native  character.  He  has  in  his  service  a  great 
number  of  natives  of  the  higher  castes,  and  has  had  an  opportu- 
nity of  forming  a  correct  estimate  of  Hindoo  morality.  He  re- 
lated to  me  a  great  number  of  instances  of  the  duplicity,  the 
downright  knavery  and  deception,  which  the  higher  orders  of 
the  people  are  constantly  practicing  on  the  lower.  The  following 
may  be  taken  as  a  specimen : 

A  writer  of  his  was  in  the  receipt  of  a  monthly  pay,  not  ex- 
ceeding thirty  rupees.  This  was  the  only  honorable  means 
which  he  had  for  his  subsistence.  He  kept  a  horse  and  a  buggy, 
a  palankeen  and  a  mistress,  besides  defraying  the  necessary  ex- 
penses of  himself  and  family — the  whole,  at  a  very  moderate 
estimate,  could  not  fall  short  of  a  monthly  expenditure  of  two 
hundred  rupees.  And  all  this  sum  he  realized  from  a  situation 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  227 

was  honestly  worth  but  thirty  rupees.  How  was  this 
done?  Not  by  embezzling  public  money,  for  none  passed 
through  his  hands ;  but  he  obtained  it  in  bribes  and  presents 
from  natives.  A  simple  man,  for  example,  comes  from  some 
back  village  to  prefer  a  complaint  against  his  neighbor,  or  to  get 
redress  for  some  grievance.  He  comes  to  the  magistrate  or  the 
judge;  but  supposes  he  can  only  approach  the  great  man 
through  his  servants.  These  drones  confirm  such  a  notion,  and 
are  at  all  times  ready  to  engage  for  the  poor  and  ignorant.  Some 
one,  therefore,  undertakes ;  but  first  secures  for  himself  five,  ten 
or  fifty  rupees,  as  the  poor  man  is  able  to  give.  He  then  informs 
him  that  he  will  present  his  case  to  the  judge,  and  there  can  be 
no  doubt  of  success.  And  'here  the  affair  most  probably  ends, 
unless  there  be  a  prospect  of  getting  another  bribe. 

As  illustrative  of  the  same  thing,  I  will  add  one  more  anec- 
dote, which  fell  under  my  own  observation  a  few  months  ago. 
"While  on  a  preaching  tour  with  Babajee,  to  the  east  of  Ahmed- 
nuggur,  a  sprightly  Hindoo  boy  came  running  after  us,  as  we 
were  leaving  his  village,  and  begged  a  tract.  He  appeared  very 
much  pleased  on  receiving  it,  and  doubtless  expressed  himself  so 
to  the  people  of  his  village.  But  in  an  hour  or  two  he  came 
again,  bringing  the  tract,  and  apparently  much  agitated.  "We 
asked  him  what  was  the  matter  ?  He  reached  out  the  book,  and 
begged  we  would  take  it  back ;  for  he  said  a  Brahmun  had  told 
him  that,  if  he  kept  that  book,  some  dreadful  calamity  would 
certainly  befall  him.  Nothing  could  persuade  the  poor  little  fel- 
low to  keep  his  tract. 

All  these  things  are  done  with  the  most  perfect  grace.  Not  an 
expression,  or  gesture,  indicates  the  wiles  which  the  deceiver  is 
practicing.  To  one  unacquainted  with  their  character,  or  who 
>nly  sees  them  when  they  come  to  pay  their  respects,  as  to  a 
great  man,  the  natives  of  India  appear  to  be  the  most  inoffensive, 
artless  and  amiable  people  in  the  world.  Hence  it  is  that  for- 
eigners, on  their  first  arrival  in  the  country,  and  travelers  who 
pass  through  the  country,  with  a  plenty  of  money  and  a  large 
retinue,  and  those  who  are  high  in  the  service  of  government, 


228  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE, 

and  see  the  natives  only  when  they  approach  them  as  dependents 
or  flatterers,  form  the  most  erroneous  notion  of  their  character. 
"Were  the  Governor  of  Bombay,  or  any  person  of  high  rank,  to 
travel  from  Bombay  to  Ahmednuggur,  he  would,  in  all  places 
and  under  all  circumstances,  find  the  natives  the  most  respectful 
and  kind.  His  every  wish  would  be  carefully  attended  to,  and 
the  greatest  complacency  would  be  manifested  in  him,  both  as  a 
man  and  a  functionary  of  government.  He  might,  as  far  as  he 
could  discern,  represent  them  as  a  very  happy,  amiable,  unsophis- 
ticated people.  But  suppose  a  missionary,  or  any  other  person 
with  but  a  servant  or  two,  were  to  pass  the  same  way  a  few  days 
after,  what  would  be  his  report  on  the  same  subject?  He  would 
tell  us  that,  in  one  village,  he  found  it  difficult  to  get  an  humble 
dinner;  in  another,  he  could  not  get  conveyance;  and  that  at 
almost  every  stage  he  experienced  some  annoyance,  arising  from 
the  falsity,  the  indolence  or  the  downright  knavery  of  the  people. 
It  is  when  they  are  detected,  and  charged  with  a  misdemeanor, 
that  they  display  the  insidiousness  of  their  character  to  perfec- 
tion. It  may  be  said,  and  almost  without  an  exception,  that  a 
native  is  never  taken  by  surprise  —  is  never  disconcerted,  what- 
ever charge  is  brought  against  him,  and  however  unexpectedly. 
"  His  specious  politeness,  and  astonishing  command  of  temper, 
leave  all  European  hypocrisy  in  the  shade."  The  servant,  for 
example,  is  arraigned  before  his  master,,  for  having  defrauded 
him  in  his  accounts.  The  man  is  conscious  of  his  guilt,  and 
knows  he  is  detected ;  but  not  a  muscle  of  his  face  moves :  his 
eye  is  as  placid  as  the  sun-beam.  On  the  spur  of  the  moment, 
he  fabricates  the  most  plausible  explanation  of  the  whole  matter 
—  says  he  "cannot  lie,  for  God  sees  him," — offers  "to  swear  on 
his  master's  Bible "  that  ah1  he  has  now  said  is  strictly  true  — 
proposes  to  call  in  his  fellow-servants,  and  to  appeal  to  them  if 
his  account  is  not  just.  They  all,  to  a  man,  declare  that  not  an 
article  is  charged  above  the  market  price,  and  that  not  an  article 
is  charged  which  was  not  actually  purchased  for  the  master,  and 
consumed  by  him.  The  "  unjust  steward,"  to  put  the  matter  be- 
yond all  question,  insists  on  calling  the  shop-keeper  from  the 


INDIA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE.  229 

bazaar.  He,  fully  understanding  the  whole  business,  very  gravely 
declares  that  the  servant  did  take  of  him  every  article  here 
specified,  and  paid  him  precisely  what  he  had  charged  in  the  bill 
presented  to  his  master.  The  master  perfectly  well  knows  that 
he  has  not  received  half  the  articles  for  which  he  is  called  on  to 
pay,  and  that  the  price  is  some  two  or  three  times  more  than 
their  value.  But  he  has  no  remedy,  or  he  does  not  like  to  seek 
a  remedy.  He,  therefore,  submits  to  the  imposition,  or  strikes 
from  the  bill  what  he  sees  fit.  The  servant  very  quietly  replies, 
41  Just  as  master  please ;  I  pay  what  I  tell  master ;  but  never  mind, 
I  pay  for  it  out  of  my  own  money,  if  master  no  pay."  Or  sup- 
pose the  master  to  detect  his  servant  in  the  very  act  of  stealing 
his  stores,  or  other  articles,  the  latter  would,  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten,  not  be  at  all  disconcerted.  He  would  instantly  give  the  most 
specious  account  for  the  present  suspicious  appearances.  He  was 
"  getting  something  for  master,  or  looking  after  master's  things." 

A  native  servant  of  government  is  charged  with  embezzling 
public  money,  or  of  receiving  bribes.  Though  guilty  of  a  series 
of  such  rogueries  for  many  years  past,  he  expresses  no  emo- 
tion, except  a  grave  surprise  that  a  faithful  old  servant  like 
himself,  who  had  never  been  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  in  all  his 
life,  should  now  be  thought  capable  of  such  an  act.  He  appeals 
to  the  valuable  public  services  of  his  fathers;  he  shows  that 
they  had  been  pillars  of  state  from  time  immemorial;  he  ap- 
peals to  his  own  fidelity  in  past  years,  and  appeals  to  God 
as  a  witness  to  his  integrity ;  he  pleads  his  loyalty  to  the  pres- 
ent government,  and  feels  grieved  that  a  whisper  of  suspicion 
could  exist  any  where ;  and  attributes  it  all  to  the  envy  of  his 
fellow-servants.  He  is  convicted,  condemned  and  dismissed  in 
disgrace.  He  says  "  it  is  fate"  insists  on  his  innocency,  and  seeks 
a  new  field  of  enterprise.  If  convicted  of  a  capital  crime  and 
condemned  to  death,  he  conducts  himself  in  a  similar  manner. 
He  goes  to  the  gallows  as  coolly,  and  launches  into  eternity  as 
thoughtlessly,  as  he  would  go  to  his  dinner.  He  says  "  it  is  fate." 

With  all  due  apology  for  the  length  of  this  article,  I  must  add 
one  anecdote  more,  as  illustrative  of  the  above  remarks.  The 


230  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

subject  of  the  story  is  now  in  Poona  jail  for  three  years.  He 
converses  about  his  imprisonment  with  the  most  inconceivable 
coolness  and  composure,  says  he  is  perfectly  innocent,  that  his 
confinement  is  no  punishment,  as  he  has  a  plenty  to  eat  without 
any  care  or  expense  of  his  own,  and  shall  at  the  expiration  of 
the  three  years  go  out  to  enjoy  his  fortune  of  three  lacs  of  ru- 
pees. His  case  was  this :  a  survey  of  the  Poona  district  was 

being  made  under  the  superintendence  of  a  Captain  P ,  for 

the  purpose  of  levying  the  land  tax.  With  the  characteristic 
indolence  of  "an  old  Indian,"  he  confided  this  important  busi- 
ness in  a  great  measure  to  his  head  writer,  a  shastree,  whom  he 
had,  after  a  long  trial,  proved,  as  he  supposed,  to  be  a  trust- wor- 
thy man.  Though  the  captain  neglected  his  duty,  the  writer  did 
not  neglect  himself.  The  survey  went  on,  and  the  lands  were  all 
carefully  examined  as  to  their  quality,  agreeably  to  the  orders  of 
government.  And  what  then  ?  Instead  of  adjusting  the  amount 
of  the  tax  to  the  quality  of  the  land,  the  shastree  adopted 
another  plan.  He  told  the  cultivator  who  held  the  good  land, 
if  he  would  pay  him  such  a  sum,  his  good  land  should  be  regis- 
tered, and,  consequently,  taxed  as  poor  land.  And,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  threatened  the  cultivator  who  held  the  poor  land,  that, 
if  he  did  not  give  him  a  specified  sum,  he  would  cause  his  poor 
laud  to  be  taxed  as  good  land.  In  this  way  he  secured  large 
sums  from  both  parties.  The  holder  of  the  poor  land  complained 
to  Captain  P.  But  the  complainant  was  only  referred  to  the 
shastree,  who  had  the  whole  affair  in  his  hands,  and  was  sup- 
posed to  manage  it  with  great  skill  and  fidelity.  So  the  roguery 
went  on  till  the  charge  of  Captain  P.  fell  into  other  hands.  Com- 
plaints were  then  listened  to,  investigation  was  made,  the  fraud 
detected,  Captain  P.  censured,  and  the  rich  shastree  delivered 
up  to  justice,  tried,  convicted  and  imprisoned  for  three  years. 


;> 

INDIA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE.  231 


CHAPTER    XVI  . 

Hindoo  notions  respecting  the  Female  sex  —  Widowhood  —  Prohibition  of  second 
Marriage — The  Death  of  a  Husband — Wailings  —  The  Marriage  state. 

THE  remark  is  almost  too  trite  to  be  repeated,  that  the  degra- 
dation or  the  elevation  of  the  female  sex  may  be  graduated  by 
the  prevalence  or  the  absence  of  the  Christian  religion.  And  it 
will  probably  hold  no  less  true  that  the  degree  of  their  degrada- 
tion in  heathen  countries  may  again  be  graduated  by  the  particu- 
lar system  of  false  religion  which  prevails,  according  as  it  is 
more  or  less  debasing  to  the  mind.  The  women  of  the  Parsees, 
or  fire-worshipers,  are  less  debased  than  those  of  the  Mussul- 
mans in  India ;  while  those  of  the  latter  class  bear  less  marks  of 
degradation  than  the  women  of  the  Hindoos.  In  the  mind  of 
the  Parsee,  the  Deity  is  elevated  as  high  as  the  sun ;  while  the 
Hindoo  degrades  him  to  a  stone,  or  the  vilest  object  that  exists. 
Mohammedanism  may  in  theory  contain  a  more  just  acknowledg- 
ment of  God  than  the  religion  of  the  fire-worshiper  does ;  but, 
in  practice,  as  seen  in  Bombay,  preference  must  be  given  to  the 
latter.  The  Mussulmans  are,  in  all  their  feelings,  superstitions 
and  practices,  nothing  but  idolaters,  though  they  do  not  stoop 
quite  so  low  in  the  objects  of  their  worship  as  their  Hindoo 
neighbors. 

Hence,  then,  we  are  to  seek,  in  Hindooism  itself,  the  first  and 
the  principal  cause  of  the  low  condition  of  females  in  India. 
The  genius  of  Hindooism  saps,  in  the  heart  of  man,  the  very 
foundation  of  all  those  tender  and  noble  affections  of  his  soul, 
which  capacitate  him  to  appreciate  and  admire  those  excellencies 
which  are  peculiar  to  the  other  sex.  Hindooism  must  make  its 
votary  selfish,  distrustful  and  brutish.  Love,  tenderness,  spmpa- 
thy,  weakness,  modesty  and  dependence,  which  we  accord  to  the 
female  as  her  appropriate  virtues,  and  which  soften  our  rough 
souls  into  congenial  passions,  are  ridiculed,  if  not  despised,  by 
the  Hindoo.  He  marries,  or  rather  buys,  his  wife  as  he  does  his 


232  INDIA.  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

beast  of  burden,  and  afterwards  regards  her  in  very  much  the 
same  light.  All  those  little  civilities  and  attentions  which  females 
receive  in  a  Christian  country  are  unknown  in  India.  Were  a 
Hindoo  to  inquire  after  the  health  of  his  neighbor's  wife,  or  of 
his  daughter,  the  husband  and  father  would  instantly  be  fired 
with  indignation.  He  would  receive  it  in  no  other  light  than  as 
an  insult  to  his  honor.  Indeed,  a  native  of  India  will  not  believe 
that  a  gentleman  can  ever  frequent  the  society  of  females,  or  pay 
them  any  attention,  whether  married  or  otherwise,  except  it  be 
with  designs  of  lewdness.  A  Hindoo  is  never  seen  to  treat  his 
wife  with  familiarity  or  fondness.  "Were  he  even  to  be  seen  walk- 
ing or  riding  with  her,  or  caressing  her,  or  engaged  in  familiar 
chat,  he  would  be  ridiculed  by  his  friends  as  a  silly,  effeminate 
man ;  he  would,  tauntingly,  be  called  a  European. 

The  following  quotations,  from  one  of  the  sacred  books  of  the 
Hindoos,  will  show  that  female  degradation  is,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, chargeable,  as  I  have  said,  on  Hindooism : 

"  The  supreme  duty  of  a  wife  is  to  obey  the  mandate  of  her 
husband.  Let  the  wife,  who  wishes  to  perform  sacred  ablution, 
wash  the  feet  of  her  lord,  and  drink  the  water ;  for  a  husband  is 
to  a  wife  greater  than  Shunuru  or  Vishnoo.  Her  husband  is  her 
god  and  gooroo,  her  religion  and  its  services ;  wherefore,  aban- 
doning every  thing  else,  she  ought  chiefly  to  worship  her  hus- 
band. If  (after  the  death  of  her  husband)  the  wife  wishes  to 
worship  Vishnoo,  let  her  abstain,  or  worship  him  in  the  character 
of  her  husband ;  and  let  her  always  remember  her  husband  as 
assuming  the  form  of  Yishnoo,  and  denominated  Hurree."  This 
implicit  obedience  of  the  wife  extends  to  any  thing  which  the 
husband  may  choose  to  command.  His  will  and  authority  are 
paramount  to  any  law,  human  or  divine.  If  he  command  his 
wife  to  lie,  steal,  or  commit  adultery,  she  must  obey.  "  There  are 
several  instances  on  record,  of  the  best  of  women  cohabiting  with 
other  men,  when  their  husbands  bade  them." 

In  tracing  the  causes  of  female  degradation,  then,  we  are  to 
begin  at  this  point,  This  blind  and  unlimited  obedience  is  incul- 
cated in  their  shastras  —  it  is  ingrafted  in  their  religion — it  cir- 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  233 

culates  through  all  the  veins  and  sinews  of  society  —  it  shows 
itself  in  the  social  and  domestic  circle — it  stamps  on  the  counte- 
nance of  every  female  the  indelible  mark  of  inferiority.  As  soon 
as  the  father  is  told  that  a  female  child  is  born  to  him,  his  counte- 
nance falls,  and  his  neighbors  come  to  condole  with  him  on  ac- 
count of  his  misfortune.  The  native  cannot  believe  that  Euro- 
peans have  not  the  same  feelings.  Not  a  year  ago,  the  lady  of  a 

missionary  in  C became  the  mother  of  a  little  daughter.    A 

native  friend  of  the  husband  called  on  him  the  next  day,  and 
was  observed  to  look  unusually  sad.  The  gentleman  inquired 
the  cause ;  when  the  native,  to  his  no  small  amusement,  increas- 
ing the  longitude  of  his  physiognomy,  said,  "  I  have  heard  the 
new-born  infant  is  a  daughter,  and  I  have  come  to  condole  with 
you  in  your  hard  fate"  To  become  the  father  of  a  son,  is  re- 
garded the  greatest  honor  and  happiness;  but  the  birth  of  a 
daughter  is  a  calamity.  And  thus  the  girl  is,  from  her  infancy, 
made  to  feel  her  inferiority.  It  appears  in  every  thing.  She  is 
regarded  as  incapable  of  mental  improvement,  and  is  doomed  to 
a  servile  life.  Ignorant  and  indolent,  she,  in  her  turn,  becomes  a 
wife,  without  any  choice  of  a  husband,  and  not  unfrequently, 
sadly  against  her  wishes.  If  she  be  of  high  birth,  she  is  little 
more  than  the  prisoner  of  her  husband.  He  immures  her  within 
the  gloomy  walls  of  his  mansion,  and  watches  over  her  with  a 
most  jealous  eye.  There  she  wastes  away"her  life  in  idleness, 
regarded  as  only  fit  to  minister  to  the  gratification  of  her  hus- 
band. If,  on  the  other  hand,  she  be  a  person  of  low  caste,  she 
becomes  the  wife  and  the  drudge  at  the  same  time :  carrying  bur- 
dens, laboring  in  the  field,  bringing  water  from  the  public  reser- 
voir, gathering  cow  dung,  kneading  it  into  cakes,  and  drying  it 
for  fuel,  are  her  appropriate  departments  of  labor.  Nearly  every 
occupation  which  nature  points  out  as  the  sphere  of  the  hardier 
sex,  is,  in  this  country,  assigned  to  the  woman,  while  her  appro- 
priate labors  are  performed  by  men.  Her  washing  is  done  by 
the  washerman ;  her  sewing,  by  the  tailor ;  her  milk  and  butter, 
and  all  articles  of  food  which  require  but  little  cookery,  are  pur- 
chased in  the  bazaar.  She  has  no  furniture  to  clean  —  no  floors 


234  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

to  sweep  and  scrub.  A  coat  of  the  grand  solution,  cow  dung  and 
water,  once  a  week,  settles  that  long  account  which  the  indus- 
trious house-wife  at  home  has  with  her  floors.  Indeed,  indolence 
and  dirt  at  home,  or  drudgery  and  disgrace  abroad,  seem  the 
only  alternatives  of  Hindoo  women. 

It  will  here  be  said,  "  They  must  be  educated,  be  taught  to 
knit  and  sew,  and  instructed  hi  all  the  arts  of  housewifery." 
Such  a  remedy  would  be  about  as  adequate  to  remove  the  evil  as 
the  prescription  which  a  very  knowing  native  gave  to  his  friend 
for  the  removal  of  a  fever.  He  ordered  him  to  "scrape  his 
tongue"  This  he  thought  a  very  philosophical  remedy,  because 
the  symptom  of  fever  appeared  on  that  organ.  The  disease 
which  cankers  and  corrodes  the  female  community  in  this  coun- 
try lies  too  deep  to  be  cheated  out  of  its  possessions  by  such 
means.  Education,  and  the  instruction  which  I  have  supposed, 
may  increase  their  wants,  without  supplying  the  means,  or  creat- 
ing the  moral  habits,  for  gratifying  these  new  wants.  It  is  easy 
enough  to  tell  a  Hindoo  mother  and  her  daughter  (if  you  can 
get  access  to  them)  how  fine  and  comfortable  a  thing  it  is  to 
have  a  neat,  pretty  house,  with  clean  furniture,  to  sleep  on  a  bed, 
to  sit  on  a  chair,  to  eat  from  a  table  with  plate,  knife,  fork,  and 
spoon,  to  sew,  knit,  spin,  etc.  But  it  is  quite  another  thing  to 
bring  them  into  a  state  in  which  they  could  either  have,  or,  hav- 
ing, could  enjoy  such  a  state  of  things.  This  would  be  to 
change  the  whole  constitution  of  society,  to  change  custom  and 
to  destroy  caste,  to  exchange  Hindooism  for  Christianity.  Hin- 
dooism  is  made  up  of  prejudices,  superstitions,  Brahminical  im- 
positions, customs,  usages  of  caste,  and  the  like;  and  these  are 
inseparably  entwined  with  all  their  social  and  domestic  habits. 
Articles  of  food,  the  manner  of  cooking,  divisions  of  labor,  and, 
indeed,  the  whole  mode  of  life  for  a  Hindoo,  are  regulated  by 
relgious  injunctions.  In  order,  then,  to  relieve  any  class  in  In- 
dia, as  the  females,  for  example,  from  the  degradation  and 
wretchedness  of  their  present  condition,  we  must  first  relieve 
them  from  Hindooism,  and  give  them  the  ennobling  and  beati- 
fying religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  proportion  as  the  force  of  re- 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  235 

ligious  principle  (if  I  may  so  denominate  an  attachment  to  Hin- 
dooism)  is  weakened  in  the  minds  of  fathers  and  husbands,  in 
the  same  degree  will  the  very  desirable  effects  above  alluded  to 
follow. 

1  A  native,  when  remonstrated  with  for  allowing  his  wife  or  his 
(laughter  to  remain  in  a  state  of  ignorance,  inferiority,  and  ne- 
glect, very  justly  replies,  that  "  she  is  not  qualified  for  the  society 
of  the  other  sex."  True,  she  is  not  qualified  for  the  society  of 
her  own  husband.  But  why  is  she  not?  The  fault  is,  again, 
chargeable  on  the  national  religion.  Hindooism  makes  it  a 
crime  for  a  woman  to  learn  to  read  and  write.  And  the  course 
of  life  which,  in  the  present  state  of  things,  a  woman  is  obliged 
to  follow,  renders  education,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  arts  and 
comforts  of  civilized  life,  unnecessary,  and,  in  a  worldly  point  of 
view,  hurtful.  The  education  of  native  females  (considered  as 
heathen)  can  confer  on  them  little  or  no  temporal  advantage. 
They  have  no  scope  for  it,  and  can  have  none  under  the  present 
system.  It  would  be  like  putting  the  costly  and  graceful  attire 
of  an  English  lady,  on  a  poor,  dirty,  cooly  woman.  The  first 
basket  of  brick,  or  mortar,  or  cow  dung,  which  she  should  place 
on  her  head,  would  crush  the  pretty  bonnet,  and  besmear  it  with 
a  vile  solution,  to  say  nothing  of  the  suffering  of  her  poor  head, 
by  substituting  so  frail  a  thing  for  the  substantial  old  rag  which 
answers  the  double  purpose  of  poising  the  burden  and  protect- 
ing the  head.  And  the  fine  dress,  too,  would  suffer  no  less  de- 
basement to  its  comeliness.  Female  schools,  as  far  as  they  may 
be  brought  under  Christian  influence,  are  the  medium  of  convey- 
ing religious  knowledge,  and  may  thus  be  the  means  of  produc- 
ing that  radical  change  which  will  permanently  ameliorate  the 
condition  of  Hindoo  women.  In  this  sense  only,  I  apprehend, 
do  female  schools  fall  within  the  limits  of  the  extensive  plan  of 
missionary  operation.  And  in  reference  to  this  object,  they  call 
for  the  most  hearty  co-operation  of  the  enlightened  female  com- 
munities in  Christendom. 

The  prejudices  of  the  natives  in  general  against  female  educa- 
tion are  very  strong.     They  seem  not  only  alarmed  at  the  idea 


236  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

of  innovation,  but  they  fear  the  consequences  which  may  ensue. 
Their  apprehensions  are  sometimes  supported  by  reasons  which 
cannot  but  elicit  a  smile  from  the  gravest  Christian  husband.  I 
recollect  once  hearing  a  conversation  between  Mr.  A.  and  a  com- 
pany of  men  in  a  country  village,  to  whom  the  subject  of  female 
education  was  apprently  new.  Mr.  A.  pointed  out  to  them  the 
advantages  and  comforts  of  a  wife's  being  able  to  read,  write, 
and  keep  accounts ;  it  would  make  her  the  man's  equal  and  com- 
panion, as  well  as  his  helper.  His  auditors  listened  with  a  very 
significant  gravity,  and  no  doubt  thought  it  all  a  very  fine 
theory.  One  more  wise  than  his  neighbors  answered :  "  All  this, 
Sahib,  may  be  very  true  with  your  people,  but  it  will  never  do 
for  us.  It  would  be  impossible  for  Hindoos  to  keep  their  wives  in 
subjection,  if  they  were  to  be  educated."  In  vain  did  their  oppo- 
nent assure  them  that  women  of  the  most  refined  education,  and 
the  most  extensive  knowledge  of  human  nature,  made  the  most 
obedient  and  affectionate  wives  in  the  world.  They  will  then, 
said  he,  be  governed  by  reason,  judgment,  and  common  sense ; 
and  regarding  the  interest  of  their  husband  as  their  own,  they 
will  yield  a  rational  and  cheerful  obedience  in  those  things  in 
which  the  husband's  will  ought  to  have  the  preference ;  while,  at 
the  same  time,  he  might  enjoy  the  advantage  of  her  better  judg- 
ment in  matters  which  pertain  to  her  own  sphere.  They  only 
rejoined,  "Our  women  are  not  like  yours;  if  educated,  they 
would  be  refractory ;  they  would  no  longer  carry  burdens  or  col- 
lect cow  dung." 

It  will  easily  be  inferred  that  a  woman  occupying  so  subor- 
dinate a  station,  not  admitted  to  the  confidence  of  her  husband, 
and  seldom  to  his  company,  except  it  be  in  a  way  that  must 
make  her  feel,  more  than  any  thing  else,  how  brutish  his  regard 
for  her  is,  can  only  be  kept  in  subjection  by  coercive  means. 
Hence  the  violence,  the  beatings,  the  cuffs  and  kicks,  which 
many  poor  wives  receive  from  their  husbands.  I  have  hi  the 
dead  of  night  heard  the  alternate  blows  and  screams,  till  it 
seemed  the  defenseless  wife  must  expire  under  the  lash  before  I 
could  afford  her  relief.  I  have  seen  the  same  woman  the  next 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  237 

.  *fcj        '"  •     *  " 

morning  forsaken  of  her  unrelenting  husband,  and  lying  outside 
of  her  house,  so  exhausted  and  bruised  that  she  could  not  rise 
from  the  ground,  nor  scarcely  raise  a  hand.  It  is  astonishing 
with  what'  shameless  coldness  a  native  will  speak  of  whipping 
his  wife.  I  recollect  ail  instance  of  a  Brahmun  from  the  conti- 
nent, who,  in  conversation  with  a  missionary  in  Bombay,  was 
speaking  of  his  village,  of  his  own  troubles,  and  the  like,  when 
he  observed  that,  for  some  cause  which  I  have  forgotten,  he  had 
flogged  his  wife.  "Flogged  your  wife!"  said  the  missionary. 
"  How  is  this  ?  Do  you  think  such  things  to  be  right  ?  "  "  Oh, 
yes,"  said  he,  very  coolly,  "  women  must  be  kept  in  subjection, 
you  know." 

Every  one  is  acquainted  with  the  atrocities  of  infanticide, 
which  have  terminated  the  miseries  of  thousands  of  female  chil- 
dren annually,  and  which  are  still  practiced  in  some  provinces  of 
India.  The  following  account  of  the  Gickers,  taken  from 
"Dow's  History  of  Mohammedanism  in  India,"  portrays  this 
subject  in  horrid  colors :  "  The  Gickers  were  a  race  of  wild  bar- 
barians, without  either  religion  or  morality.  It  was  a  custom 
among  them,  as  soon  as  a  female  child  was  born,  to  carry  her  to 
the  market-place,  and  there  to  proclaim,  holding  the  child  in  one 
hand  and  a  knife  in  the  other,  that  any  person  who  wanted  a 
wife  might  now  take  her,  otherwise  she  was  immediately  put  to 
death.  By  this  means  they  had  more  men  than  women,  which 
occasioned  the  custom  of  several  husbands  to  one  wife.  "When 
this  wife  was  visited  by  one  of  her  husbands,  she  set  a  mark  at 
her  door,  which,  being  observed  by  any  other  who  might  be 
coming  on  the  same  errand,  he  immediately  withdrew  till  the 
signal  was  taken  out  of  the  way."  ?H 

:  The  practice  of  a  plurality  of  husbands  still  exists  in  some 
places  in  the  north  of  India.  (See  letters  from  India  by  Victor 
Jacquemont,  the  French  naturalist,  1834.)  On  the  N"eilghery 
Hills,  in  South  India,  there  is  a  similar  custom,  the  origin  of 
which,  not  unlikely,  might  be  traced  to  the  above  mentioned 
practice  of  destroying  female  children.  These  ladies  of  the  Hills 
are  said  to  turn  the  monopoly  to  their  own  account.  When  they 


238  iin)iA  AXD  ITS  PEOPLE. 

travel,  "  they  station  their  several  husbands  on  the  road  at  a  dis- 
tance of  five  or  six  miles.  The  first  husband  carries  her  on  his 
shoulder  to  the  next  station,  where  another  husband  is  waiting 
to  forward  her  in  the  same  manner  to  the  third,  and  so  on  to  the 
end  of  her  journey. 

There  is  a  practice  in  some  parts  of  the  northern  provinces, 
more  degrading,  perhaps,  to  the  female  sex,  than  any  I  have  jet 
mentioned;  and  what  renders  it  the  more  wonderful,  it  is  so 
completely  at  variance  with  the  extreme  jealousy  with  which 
husbands  in  India  generally  watch  over  their  wives.  It  is  there 
regarded  a  mark  of  hospitality  for  the  host  to  prostitute  his  wife 
to  his  guest.  This  extraordinary  proffer  is  not  made  to  their 
own  countrymen,  or  the  people  of  their  own  caste  only,  but  to 
strangers  and  foreigners.  Several  Europeans  have  given  this 
account  from  personal  acquaintance  with  the  fact,  and  in  one 
instance,  I  recollect  a  native  of  rank  was  much  offended  with  a 
European  gentleman,  whose  guest  he  happened  to  be,  because  he 
did  not  offer  him  the  same  hospitality. 

"Widowhood  is  regarded  in  India  as  the  greatest  calamity  that 
can  possibly  befall  a  woman.  The  widow  is  stripped  of  her 
ornaments,  compelled  to  wear  white  clothing,  has  her  head 
shaven,  may  not  stain  her  face  with  saffron  water,  nor  imprint 
on  her  forehead  any  of  the  symbols  of  their  caste  or  worship. 
She  is  excluded  from  all  ceremonies  of  joy;  especially  that  of 
marriage,  where  her  appearance  would  be  considered  an  evil 
omen. 

The  reader  here  will  cease  to  wonder  why  so  many  Hindoo 
wives  make  a  voluntary  sacrifice  of  themselves  on  the  funeral 
pile.  Besides  the  merit  and  future  rewards  held  out  to  them  as  mo- 
tives derived  from  their  religion,  there  are  inducements  of 
another  kind,  which  probably  act  on  their  minds  still  more  pow- 
erfully. Religion  and  custom  have  rendered  widowhood  so 
wretched  and  disgraceful,  that  the  Hindoo  wife,  on  the  demise 
of  her  husband,  chooses  death  rather  than  so  miserable  a  life. 

The  prohibition  of  a  second  marriage,  together  with  the 
wretched  state  of  a  widow  after  the  death  of  her  protector,  and 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  239 

the  detestation  in  which  she  is  held  by  the  people,  is,  no  doubt, 
the  true  cause  of  this.  Hence  the  burning  of  widows,  and  the 
burying  them  alive  with  the  deceased  husband.  The  following 
remarks  from  the  Abbe  Dubois,  than  whom  no  one  has  ever 
enjoyed  better  opportunities  of  becoming  acquainted  with  the 
domestic  habits  of  the  Hindoo,  exhibit  this  subject  in  its  true 
light.  Never  do  we  feel  more  forcibly  than  when  contemplating 
such  exhibitions  of  idolatry  as  the  following,  that  nothing  but 
the  Gospel  can  raise  the  degraded  females  of  India,  and  assign 
to  woman  her  appropriate  place  among  intelligent  and  happy 
beings.  Let  the  reader  listen  to  the  wild  and  savage  lamenta- 
tions of  a  Hindoo  woman  at  the  death  of  her  husband,  and  then 
tell  me  if  there  be  no  need  of  a  remedy. 

"  "When  the  husband  dies  first,  just  before  his  parting  breath) 
the  wife  flies  to  her  toilet;  and  for  the  last  time  in  her  life, 
adorns  herself  with  all  her  jewels,  and  her  finest  attire.  She  is 
no  sooner  dressed,  than  she  returns  with  marks  of  the  profound- 
est  grief  on  her  countenance,  and  throws  herself  on  the  body  of 
her  dead  husband,  which  she  embraces  with  loud  shrieks.  She 
continues  to  clasp  him  fast  in  her  arms,  until  the  relations,  who 
are  generally  quiet  spectators  of  what  is  going  on,  thinking  she 
has  acquitted  herself  sufficiently  of  this  first  demonstration  of 
grief,  attempt  to  take  her  away  from  the  body.  She  will  not 
yield,  however,  to  any  thing  but  force,  and  appears  to  make  vio- 
lent efforts  to  disengage  herself  from  their  restraint,  so  as  to  pre- 
cipitate herself  again  upon  the  corpse.  But,  finding  herself 
overpowered,  she  must  be  contented  with  rolling  upon  the 
ground,  as  if  she  were  bereft  of  reason,  striking  her  bosom  vio- 
lently, tearing  out  her  hair  in  handful  s,  and  giving  several  other 
proofs  of  the  sincerity  of  her  sorrow.  She  is  compelled  to  act 
in  this  manner,  were  it  only  in  dissimulation,  and  to  save  appear- 
ances, as  it  is  all  in  conformity  with  custom,  and  appertains  to 
the  ceremony  of  mourning. 

"  After  exhibiting  these  first  evidences  of  despair,  she  gets  up ; 
and,  assuming  a  more  composed  appearance,  approaches  the  body 
of  her  husband.  Addressing  it,  in  a  style  rather  beyond  the  lim- 


240  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

its  of  real  affection,  she  demands,  « Why  hast  thou  forsaken  nie  ? 
What  evil  have  I  done  that  thou  has  left  me  at  this  untimely 
age  ?  Had  I  not  always  for  thee  the  fondness  of  a  faithful  wife  ? 
Was  I  not  attentive  to  household  affairs  ?  My  pretty  children, 
whom  I  have  brought  thee !  what  will  become  of  them,  and  who 
will  protect  them,  now  thou  art  dead?  Did  I  not  neatly  serve 
up  thy  rice  ?  Did  not  I  devote  myself  to  provide  thee  good  eat- 
ing? What  did  I  leave  undone?  And  who  henceforward  will 
take  care  of  me  ? '  Such  pathetic  appeals  as  these  she  utters  in 
a  sad  and  lamentable  tone ;  and  at  each  demand  she  pauses,  to 
allow  scope  to  her  grief,  which  then  breaks  forth  in  violent 
screams,  and  with  torrents  of  blasphemies  against  the  gods,  who 
have  deprived  her  of  her  protector.  The  women,  who  are 
attending,  wait  till  she  has  finished  her  lamentations,  which  they 
re-echo  nearly  in  the  same  dismal  tone. 

"  She  continues  to  apostrophize  her  husband  in  this  manner, 
till  her  wearied  lungs  can  no  longer  afford  her  the  means  of 
making  her  afflictions  audible,  or  till  her  exhausted  eloquence 
has  spent  all  its  stores.  It  is  then  time  for  her  to  withdraw,  that 
she  may  enjoy  some  repose,  and  meditate  upon  some  new  ha- 
rangues to  be  addressed  to  the  dead  body,  which  they  are  pre- 
paring for  its  obsequies. 

"The  more  vehement  the  expression  of  the  widow's  grief  on 
such  occasions,  and  the  louder  her  exclamations,  so  much  the 
more  is  she  esteemed  for  her  intelligence  and  sentiment.  It 
would  be  highly  discreditable  to  a  woman,  under  such  circum- 
stances, to  forbear  these  expressions  of  violent  sorrow.  I  was 
once  appealed  to  by  some  relations  of  a  young  widow,  whose 
stupidity  was  so  gross,  they  said,  that  at  her  husband's  death  she 
had  not  a  word  to  say,  but  only  wept. 

"  These  ceremonies,  wailings,  and  lamentations,  have  been  con- 
tinued from  high  antiquity.  Very  distinct  traces  of  this  are  visi- 
ble in  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  in  that  passage,  for  example,  (Gen. 
23,)  which  relates  to  the  death  of  Sarah,  the  wife  of  Abraham; 
and,  still  more,  (ch.  50,)  where  this  kind  of  ceremony  was  prac- 
ticed by  Joseph  at  the  interment  of  his  father :  'And  they  came 


.  INDIA   AND   ITS    PEOPLE. 

to  the  threshing-floor  of  Atad,  which  is  beyond  Jordan,  and 
there  they  mourned  for  his  father  seven  days.  And  when  the 
inhabitants  of  the  land,  the  Canaanites,  saw  the  mourning  in  the 
floor  of  Atad,  they  said,  this  is  a  grievous  mourning  to  the  Egyp- 
tians :  wherefore  the  name  of  it  was  called  Abel-mizraim,  that 
is,  the  mourning  of  the  Egyptians.' 

"It  is  well  known  that  the  Romans  hired  mourners  to  attend 
their  funerals,  who  were  paid  well,  in  proportion  to  the  apparent 
vehemence  of  their  sorrow. 

"  In  like  manner,  it  is  the  custom  in  India  to  engage  women 
for  pay,  to  assist  on  such  occasions,  to  add  to  the  solemnity  of 
the  mourning  by  their  tears  and  lamentations.  These  weeping 
hirelings,  when  sent  for,  instantly  assemble  around  the  deceased, 
with  hair  disheveled,  and  half  their  bodies  bare,  and  commence 
by  setting  up  the  loud  shout  of  lamentation  in  unison;  then 
weep  in  gentler  cadence,  and  beat  time  to  the  measure,  by 
thumping  their  bosoms  with  both  hands.  Sometimes,  in  mild 
apostrophe,  they  reproach  the  dead  for  his  cruelty  in  departing, 
and  sometimes  join  in  high  eulogiums  on  the  virtues  and  good 
qualities  which  he  exhibited  in  life.  Each,  in  her  turn,  pours 
out  her  measure  of  reproof  and  commendation.  This  assumed 
grief  disappears  as  soon  as  the  body  is  carried  to  its  obsequies. 
They  receive  their  wages,  and  mourn  no  longer." 

The  evils  resulting  from  the  prohibition  of  a  second  marriage, 
are,  no  doubt,  as  great  as  have  been  represented.  But  whether 
these  same  evils  would  not  exist  in  regard  to  another  class  of 
females,  were  widows  allowed  to  marry  a  second  time,  deserves 
consideration  before  we  pronounce  an  unqualified  reprobation. 
It  is  true,  the  widow  is  despised,  forlorn,  and  cast  out ;  but  per- 
haps she  is  held  in  no  more  contempt  than  an  unmarried  female 
would  be,  who  failed  of  wedlock  in  her  youth.  If  a  certain  por- 
tion of  females  must  remain  unmarried,  as  the  history  of  almost 
every  nation  shows  they  do,  we  may  very  plausibly  ask  what 
portion  we  may  more  fairly  leave  to  such  a  lot,  than  those  who 
have  once  known  the  weal  or  woe  of  matrimony  ? 

The  inquiry  has  more  relevancy  with  the  European  than  the 
16 


242  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

•«  '  •  .  * 

American,  the  surplus  of  females  being  much  greater  in 
Europe  than  in  America.  These  remarks,  I  am  aware,  are  based 
on  the  supposition  that  the  unmarried  part  of  the  community 
will  become  unchaste,  and  this  is  the  only  supposition  which  can, 
be  made  in  India,  without  doing  violence  to  almost  universal 
fact.  Until  some  redeeming  spirit  shall  arise  for  poor  India-,  we 
may  hope  that  as  few  evils  will  arise,  by  allowing  widows  to  be 
consigned  over  to  wretchedness  and  shame,  as  there  would,  were 
we  able  to  change  this  practice,  and  in  their  stead  give  up  the 
same  number  of  young  girls  as  victims  of  licentiousness. 

A  native  will  assign  a  more  practical  reason  for  this  singular 
prohibition.  A  Brahmun,  in  conversation  with  Mr.  Allen,  not 
long  since,  said  he  thought  the  practice  a  very  good  one,  and  ne- 
cessary to  the  objects  of  matrimony,  and  particularly  to  the  com- 
fort and  safety  of  the  husjband.  Were  it  allowed,  he  said,  for  a 
woman  to  marry  a  second  time,  it  would  be  impossible  to  tell 
what  excesses  of  evil  she  might  commit,  when  she  became  dis- 
satisfied with  her  present  lot.  She  is  his  cook,  but  not  his  com- 
panion at  the  table,  and  would  find  it  an  easy  matter  to  adminis- 
ter poison,  quit  his  house,  forsake  her  children,  and  involve  the 
family  in  distress.  But  while  perpetual  widowhood,  portrayed 
with  disgrace  and  misery,  worse  than  death  itself,  is  held  out  as 
the  only  prospect  of  a  wife,  she  is  made  to  feel  that  the  comfort 
and  preservation  of  her  husband  is  more  precious  to  her  than 
life.  It  makes  me  blush  for  the  degeneracy  of  human  nature, 
to  acknowledge  that  the  utility  of  the  practice  can  be  predicated 
on  so  humiliating  a  reason.  But  I  verily  believe  that  the  Brah- 
mun spoke  the  honest  sentiment  of  his  heart,  and  the  sentiments 
of  thousands  of  others  in  this  land  of  sin.  Not  long  since,  a 
Jewish  priest  advanced  the  same  sentiment.  He  said  he  very 
much  disliked  the  usages  of  Europeans  on  the  subject  of  mar- 
riage. With  them,  he  said,  a  man  might  not,  without  difficulty, 
put  away  his  wife ;  and  that  this  gives  the  wife  too  much  advan- 
tage over  her  husband.  But  among  his  people,  he  said,  the  wife 
well  understands  that  she  holds  her  present  station  only  on  con- 
dition of  proper  subordination,  and  due  attention  to  her  lord. 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  243 

If  the  Hindoo  wife  transgress  what  her  husband  chooses  to  call 
the  bounds  of  propriety,  or  neglect  to  do  whatever  he  may  im- 
pose, she  is  forthwith  discarded,  and  her  place  supplied  with 
another,  who,  in  her  turn,  is  only  regarded  as  a  servant,  never  as 
a  companion,  entitled  to  no  attention,  and  she  receives  none,  not 
even  in  familiar  intercourse.  "  To  marry  and  to  buy  a  wife,  are 
synonymous  terms  in  this  country.  Almost  every  parent  makes 
his  daughter  an  article  of  traffic,  obstinately  refusing  to  give  her 
up  to  her  lawful  husband,  until  he  has  rigorously  paid  down  the 
sum  of  money  which  he  was  bound  for,  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  caste.  This  practice  of  purchasing  the  young  women 
whom  they  are  to  marry,  is  the  inexhaustible  source  of  disputes 
and  litigation,  particularly  among  the  poorer  classes." 

Such  is  an  imperfect  view  of  the  evil.  But  the  remedy?  It 
is  easy,  simple,  sovereign.  It  is  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  Hin- 
dooism  must  be  displaced  by  Christianity;  the  Gospel  must  be 
preached,  heard  and  believed.  For  they  cannot  believe  except 
they  hear.  Every  system  of  missions,  or  plan  of  benevolence, 
which  does  not  make  the  preaching  of  the  Word  the  prominent 
object,  which  does  not  look  to,  and  depend  on,  this  as  the  prom- 
ised means  of  success,  and  hold  all  others  as  only  auxiliary,  will, 
in  the  same  proportion,  fail  as  a  remedy  for  the  monstrous  evils 
of  which  I  have  been  speaking. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

Noor  Mahal,  the  Empress  of  the  Great  Mogul  —  Her  Origin  and  Wonderful  His- 
tory —  An  Extraordinary  Woman. 

IN  singular  contrast  to  what  we  have  seen  to  be  the  character 
and  condition  of  women  in  India  in  the  foregoing  chapter,  I 
shall  now  introduce  to  the  reader  an  oriental  lady,  whose  beauty, 
accomplishments,  intelligence  and  influence  at  the  court  of  the 


244  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

Great  Mogul,  and  whose  romantic  history  seems  more  like  some 
fairy  tale  of  Eastern  romance,  than  real  life  in  the  more  sober 
West.  Such  a  female  character  as  Nbor  Mahal  would  be  ex- 
traordinary any  where,  or  in  any  period  of  the  world,  but  much 
more  extraordinary  in  India,  and  more  than  two  hundred  years 


In  all  those  Eastern  countries  woman  has  been,  from  time  im- 
memorial, a  mere  blank  in  her  social  condition.  In  the  family, 
in  society,  in  the  great  world,  woman  has  been  nothing  account- 
ed of.  She  is  a  mere  drudge,  a  tool,  a  matter  of  convenience. 
She  no  where  holds  a  commanding  position,  or  a  position  of 
equality  with  the  sterner  sex.  The  chief  reason  of  this  fact,  so 
humiliating  to  the  whole  sex,  is  to  be  sought  in  the  character  of 
the  prevailing  systems  of  religion  in  those  countries.  Nothing 
short  of  Christianity  puts  woman  in  her  rightful  position  and 
preserves  her  there. 

The  theatre  on  which  our  lady  acted  so  brilliant  a  part  was  in 
the  north  of  India.  She  was  probably  the  most  extraordinary 
woman  that  ever  lived  in  Asia.  Northern  India  was  at  this 
period  the  central  portion  of  the  empire  of  the  Great  Moguls. 
Lahore,  Agra  and  Delhi  were  cities  of  ancient  renown,  as  they  are 
of  modern  celebrity.  Each  was  in  turn  the  capital  of  the  Mogul 
Empire,  and  each  would  have  a  history,  could  it  be  written,  of 
thrilling  interest.  If  extent  of  dominion,  wars,  conquests,  un- 
surpassed military  achievements,  and  regal  magnificence,  such  as 
even  the  "  gorgeous  East "  never  surpassed,  if  equaled,  are 
topics  for  the  historian,  the  Mogul  dynasty  offers  a  fertile  field. 
Nor  was  the  court  of  the  Great  Moguls  less  remarkable  for  its 
learned  jurists,  its  skillful  artists,  its  great  scholars,  and  men  of 
letters. 

The  scene  of  our  present  tale  is  Agra.  Let  us,  therefore,  pause 
a  moment  amidst  the  monuments  of  its  ancient  grandeur,  and 
contemplate  scenes  of  no  ordinary  interest.  On  the  banks  of  the 
Jumna,  on  which  the  justly  renowned  city  of  Agra  stands,  may 
be  seen,  near  the  rich  and  beautiful  gardens  of  Rambaugh,  the 
far-famed  mausoleum  of  Ulha-ma-Dowlah,  the  revered  parent  of 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  245 

Nboi*  Mahal.  At  the  death  of  her  father,  the  inconsolahle 
daughter  proposed,  as  a  proof  of  her  affection  and  a  memorial 
of  her  magnificence,  to  perpetuate  his  memory  by  a  monument 
of  solid  silver.  Dissuaded  from  this,  she  erected  a  noble  fabric 
of  marble,  which  still  stands  in  the  city  of  Agra,  a  lastino-  me- 
mento of  a  daughter's  affection,  and  a  beautiful  specimen  of 
oriental  architecture. 

From  the  top  of  this  monumental  edifice  may  be  seen  the  blue 
waters  of  the  Jumna,  winding  through  a  rich  champaign  country, 
with  gardens  stretching  out  on  either  side  of  the  rippling  cur- 
rent. Opposite,  the  city  of  Agra,  with  its  bastioned  fort,  marble 
palaces,  splendid  cupolas  and  broad  ghauts,  intermixed  with 
trees,  stands  in  all  the  pomp  of  Eastern  architecture ;  below,  in 
silvery  pride,  the  lustrous  Taaj  Mahal  is  seen,  and  far  as  the  eye 
can  reach,  country  houses,  decorated  with  light  pavilions,  spring- 
ing close  to  the  margin  of  the  stream,  diversify  the  landscape. 

This  sepulchral  monument,  a  splendid  relic  of  the  house  of 
the  immortal  Timour,  and  a  lasting  memorial  of  the  once  august 
dynasty  of  the  Great  Moguls,  is  here  selected  to  introduce  the 
reader  to  one  of  the  most  remarkable  personages  that  ever 
wielded  the  sceptre  of  India.  She  did  not  wield  the  sceptre 
directly.  She  enjoyed  a  convenient  medium  in  the  person  of 
her  imperial  husband.  And  here  let  me  remind  the  reader,  as 
he  peruses  the  character  and  history  of  this  extraordinary  wo- 
man, that  she  lived  in  an  age  and  in  a  country  in  which  her  sex 
are,  by  prejudice,  by  custom  and  religion,  doomed  to  a  state  of 
ignorance  and  degradation  from  which  humanity  recoils,  and 
over  which  Christianity  weeps.  Woman  is  there  deemed  in- 
capable of  mental  improvement,  unworthy  the  companionship 
of  the  other  sex,  and  wholly  unfit  to  share  in  the  counsels  of  the 
State.  She  is,  indeed,  a  blank  in  society,  and  doomed  to  drag 
out  a  life  of  animal  existence  in  blind  subserviency  to  the  "  lords 
of  creation,"  and  ministering  only  to  the  grosser  appetites  of 
human  nature. 

Under  such  inauspicious  circumstances,  the  heroine  of  our  tale 
appeared  at  the  imperial  city.  It  was  about  the  year  1585. 


246  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

The  renowned  Ahbar,  surnamed  the  Great,  then  swayed  the 
sceptre  over  the  vast  Mohammedan  Empire  in  India.  Selim  was 
his  only  son.  At  the  death  of  his  father,  he  came  to  the  throne, 
in  the  year  1605,  under  the  modest  title  of  Noor-ul-Deen  Mo- 
hammed Jehanghire,  Mohammed,  the  Light  of  the  Faith  and 
Conqueror  of  the  "World.  He  was  the  husband  of  the  singular 
personage  whose  history  we  shall  now  attempt  briefly  to  trace. 
"We  shall  avail  ourselves  of  the  authority  of  the  Persian  histo- 
rian, who  is  almost  the  only  chronicler  that  has  transmitted  to 
us  records  of  those  semi-barbarous,  but  intensely  interesting, 
times. 

Chaja  Aiass  was  a  native  of  Tartary.  He  was  descended  from 
an  ancient  and  noble  family,  which  had,  by  the  various  revolu- 
tions of  fortune  at  this  time,  fallen  into  decay.  Hence  he  left  his 
country  to  try  his  fortune  in  Hindoostan.  A  good  education  was 
his  whole  patrimony.  Falling  in  love  with  a  young  woman  as 
poor  as  himself,  he  married,  but  soon  found  great  difficulty  in 
providing  for  his  wife  even  the  necessaries  of  life.  Reduced  to 
the  last  extremity,  he  turned  his  thoughts  to  India,  the  usual 
resource  of  the  needy  Tartars  of  the  north.  He  clandestinely 
set  out  for  a  foreign  country,  leaving  behind  him  friends  who 
either  could  not  or  would  not  afford  him  relief.  His  whole  re- 
sources consisted  of  one  sorry  horse  and  a  very  small  sum  of 
money.  Placing  his  wife  on  the  animal,  which  was  already 
laden  with  a  sack  containing  articles  of  food  and  a  few  cooking 
utensils,  with  a  sleeping  mattress,  he  walked  by  her  side.  She 
could  ill  endure  so  long  a  journey,  for  she  was  about  to  become 
a  mother.  Their  scanty  pittance  of  money  was  soon  exhausted. 
When  they  arrived  on  the  confines  of  the  great  solitudes 
which  separate  Tartary  from  the  dominions  of  the  Grand  Mogul, 
they  had  already  subsisted  several  days  on  charity.  No  house 
was  there  to  cover  them  from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather, 
no  hand  to  relieve  their  wants.  To  return  was  certain  misery ; 
to  proceed,  apparent  destruction. 

They  had  fasted  three  days,  and  to  complete  their  misfortune, 
the  wife  of  Aiass  was  seized  with  the  pains  of  labor.  She  begun 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  247 

to  reproach  her  husband  for  leaving  his  native  country  at  an  un- 
fortunate hour;  for  exchanging  a  quiet,  though  poor,  life  for  the 
ideal  prospects  of  wealth  in  a  distant  land.  In  this  distressed 
situation  she  became  the  mother  of  a  daughter.  Here  they  re- 
mained for  several  hours,  in  the  vain  hope  that  travelers  might 
pass  that  way.  They  were  disappointed.  Human  feet  seldom 
tread  those  deserts.  The  sun  declined  apace,  and  they  feared 
the  approach  of  night.  The  place  was  the  haunt  of  wild  beasts, 
and  should  they  escape  their  hunger,  they  must  fall  by  their 
own.  In  this  extremity,  the  husband  placed  his  wife  on  the 
horse,  but  found  himself  so  much  exhausted  that  he  could 
scarcely  move.  To  carry  the  child  was  impossible,  the  mother 
could  not  even  support  herself  on  the  animal.  An  agonizing 
contest  now  begun  between  parental  affection  and  necessity. 
The  latter  prevailed,  and  they  agreed  to  expose  the  child  to  the 
highway.  The  infant,  covered  with  leaves,  was  placed  under  a 
tree,  and  the  disconsolate  parents  proceeded  in  tears. 

When  they  had  advanced  about  a  mile,  the  eyes  of  the  mother 
could  no  longer  distinguish  the  solitary  tree  under  which  she  had 
left  her  first-born.  She  gave  way  to  grief,  and  throwing  herself 
from  the  horse,  exclaimed,  "  My  child !  my  child ! "  She  en- 
deavored to  raise  herself,  but  she  had  no  strength  to  return. 
He  prevailed  on  his  wife  to  sit  down,  promising  to  bring  the 
child.  He  approached  the  spot,  and  as  his  eye  caught  the  in- 
fant, he  stood  petrified  with  horror.  A  black  snake  was  coiled 
around  it,  and  Aiass  fancied  that  he  beheld  him  extend  his  fatal 
jaws  to  devour  it.  The  father  rushed  forward.  The  serpent, 
alarmed,  retired  into  the  hollow  tree.  He  took  up  his  daughter 
unhurt  and  brought  her  to  her  mother,  and  as  he  was  relating 
the  wonderful  escape,  some  travelers  appeared  and  kindly  reliev- 
ed their  wants.  They  proceeded  gradually  and  came  to  Lahore, 
where  the  emperor  then  held  his  court. 

At  the  period  when  our  adventurers  arrived  at  Lahore,  Asiph 
Khan  attended  the  imperial  presence.  He  was  a  distant  relative 
of  Aiass,  and  one  of  the  monarch's  omrahs.  He  received  his 
kinsman  with  attention  and  kindness,  and  to  employ  him,  made 


248  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

him  his  private  secretary.  Aiass  soon  recommended  himself  to 
Asiph,  and  by  some  happy  accident  his  diligence  and  ability 
attracted  the  notice  of  the  emperor,  who  raised  him  to  the  com- 
mand of  a  thousand  horse.  He  became  in  process  of  time 
master  of  the  household ;  and  his  genius  being  still  greater  than 
even  his  good  fortune,  he  raised  himself  to  the  office  and  title  of 
Actimad-ul-Dowlah,  or  "  High  Treasurer  of  the  Empire."  Thus 
he,  who  had  almost  perished  through  mere  want  in  the  desert, 
became  in  the  space  of  a  few.  years  the  first  subject  in  India. 

This  daughter  of  desert-birth  received,  soon  after  her  arrival 
at  Lahore,  the  name  of  Mher-ul-I^issa,  or  the  "  Sun  of  Women." 
She  had  some  right  to  the  appellation ;  for  in  beauty  she  excelled 
all  the  ladies  of  the  East.  She  was  educated  with  the  utmost 
care  and  attention.  In  music,  in  dancing,  in  poetry,  in  painting, 
she  had  no  equal  among  her  sex.  Her  disposition  was  volatile ; 
her  wit  lively  and  satirical;  her  spirit  lofty  and  uncontrolled. 
Selim,  the  prince  royal,  one  day  visited  her  father.  "When  the 
public  entertainment  was  over,  and  all  but  the  principal  guests 
had  withdrawn,  the  ladies,  according  to  custom,  were  introduced 
in  their  vails. 

The  ambition  ot  Mher-ul-Nissa  aspired  to  the  conquest  of  the 
prince.  She  then  sang ;  he  was  in  raptures.  She  danced ;  he 
could  hardly  be  restrained  by  the  conventional  rules  to  his  place. 
Her  stature,  her  shape,  her  gait,  had  raised  his  conceptions  of 
her  beauty  to  the  highest  pitch.  When  his  eyes  seemed  to 
devour  her,  she,  as  if  by  accident,  dropped  her  vail,  and  shone 
full  upon  him  in  all  her  charms.  Her  timid  eye  by  stealth  fell 
on  the  prince  and  kindled  all  his  soul  to  love.  He  was  silent  the 
remainder  of  the  evening.  She  endeavored  to  confirm  by  her 
wit  the  conquest  which  the  charms  of  her  person  had  made. 

Mher-ul-Nissa  had  been  betrothed  by  her  father  to  Shere  Af- 
kun,  a  Turkomanian  nobleman  of  great  renown.  Selim,  dis- 
tracted with  his  passion,  knew  not  what  course  to  take.  He  ap- 
plied to  his  imperial  father,  but  he  refused  to  do  such  an  act  of 
injustice,  though  in  favor  of  the  heir  to  his  throne.  The  prince 
retired  abashed.  Mher-ul-Nissa  became  the  wife  of  Shere  Af- 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  249 

kun.  Selim,  though  chagrined,  dared  make  no  open  attack  on 
his  fortunate  rival  during  the  life  of  his  father.  Shere  Af  kun, 
however,  suffered  severely  on  this  account  at  court,  and  retired 
in  disgust.  Selim  mounted  the  throne  of  India.  His  passion 
for  Mher-ul-Nissa,  which  had  been  repressed  from  respect  and 
fear  for  his  father,  now  returned  with  redoubled  violence.  He 
was  now  absolute.  No  subject  could  thwart  his  will  or  his 
pleasure.  He  recalled  Shere  Af  kun  from  his  retreat.  Still,  he 
was  too  much  restrained  by  public  opinion  directly  to  seize  the 
wife  of  the  omrah.  Shere  was  inflexible.  No  man  of  honor  in 
India  can  relinquish  his  wife  without  disgrace.  He  was  natural- 
ly high-spirited  and  proud ;  his  incredible  strength  and  bravery 
had  rendered  him  extremely  popular ;  and  it  was  not  to  be  ex- 
pected that  he  would  yield  to  public  indignity.  He  had  served 
in  Persia  with  renown,  and  during  the  reign  of  the  illustrious 
Acbur  had  distinguished  himself  in  the  field,  and  shared  the 
highest  honors  of  the  court. 

Shere  Af  kun  was  called  to  the  presence,  received  graciously, 
and  loaded  with  new  honors.  Naturally  open  and  ingenuous, 
he  suspected  not  the  emperor's  intentions.  Time  he  hoped  had 
erased  from  his  mind  the  memory  of  Mher-ul-Nissa.  He  was  de- 
ceived. The  monarch  was  still  resolved  to  remove  his  rival. 
He  appointed  a  day  for  hunting,  and  ordered  the  haunt  of  an 
enormous  tiger  to  be  explored.  The  animal  is  said  to  have  car- 
ried off  the  largest  oxen.  This  monster  was  discovered  in  the 
forest.  The  emperor,  attended  by  Shere  Afkun  and  several 
thousand  of  his  principal  officers  with  their  trains,  directed 
thither  his  march.  Having,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
Tartars,  surrounded  the  ground,  they  moved  toward  the  centre. 
The  tiger  was  roused.  His  roaring  was  heard  in  all  quarters, 
and  the  emperor  hastened  to  the  spot. 

"  "Who  among  you  will  advance  singly  and  attack  this  tiger  ?" 
cried  Jehanghire  to  his  nobles.  They  were  silent.  All  eyes  were 
turned  on  Shere  Afkun.  He  spoke  not,  imagining  that  none 
durst  attempt  a  deed  so  dangerous.  After  the  refusal  of  the 
nobles,  he  hoped  the  honor  of  the  enterprise  would  devolve  on 


250  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

him.  Three,  however,  offered  themselves  for  the  combat.  Not 
to  be  outdone,  as  the  emperor  had  rightly  judged,  Shere  at 
length  addressed  the  presence  :  "  0  Monarch  of  the  World  and 
Light  of  the  Holy  Faith,  to  attack  an  animal  with  weapons  is 
both  unmanly  and  unfair.  God  has  given  to  man  limbs  and 
sinews  as  well  as  to  tigers ;  he  has  added  reason  to  the  former  to 
conduct  his  strength."  The  omrahs  objected  in  vain,  "  that  all 
men  were  inferior  to  the  tiger  in  strength,  and  that  he  could  be 
overcome  only  with  steel."  "  I  will  convince  you  of  your  mis- 
take," replied  Shere  Af  kun ;  and  throwing  down  his  sword  and 
shield,  he  prepared  to  advance  unarmed. 

.  The  emperor,  secretly  pleased,  made  a  show  of  dissuading  him 
from  so  dangerous  an  enterprise.  Shere,  however,  was  determin- 
ed ;  and  the  monarch,  with  feigned  reluctance,  yielded.  After  a 
long  and  obstinate  struggle,  the  intrepid  warrior,  mangled  with 
wounds,  laid  the  savage  beast  at  his  feet.  His  fame  was  increas- 
ed, and  the  base  designs  of  the  emperor  defeated.  But  the  de- 
termined cruelty  of  the  latter  did  not  stop  here.  Other  devices 
of  death  were  formed  against  the  unfortunate  Shere.  Again  he 
appeared  at  court,  and  again  caressed  by  the  emperor,  he  sus- 
pected no  guile.  But  fresh  machinations  of  his  imperial  awaited 
him.  Orders  were  at  one  time  secretly  given  to  an  elephant- 
rider  to  crush  him  to  death  in  his  palanquin,  as  he  passed 
through  a  narrow  street;  and  at  another,  forty  ruffians  were 
employed  by  the  viceroy  of  Bengal,  whither  he  had  now  retired, 
to  dispatch  him  in  his  bed.  He  overcame  the  elephant  with  his 
sword,  and  dispersed  the  ruffians  with  the  most  prodigious  deeds 
of  daring. 

The  fame  of  the  last  exploit  resounded  through  the  empire. 
The  populace  thronged  around  him  on  every  side,  and  shouted 
his  praises.  He  retired  to  Burdwan,  where  he  hoped  to  live  in 
obscurity  and  safety  with  his  beautiful  and  beloved  Mher-ul- 
Nissa.  He  was  again  deceived.  The  viceroy  of  Bengal  had  re- 
ceived his  government  on  condition  of  removing  the  emperor's 
rival,  and  he  was  not  unfaithful  to  his  trust.  Under  pretense  of 
visiting  the  dependent  provinces,  he  came  to  Burdwan.  He 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  251 

made  no  secret  of  his  design  to  his  chief  officers.  The  brave 
and  persecuted  Shere  met  him  as  a  friend,  with  only  two  attend- 
ants. The  mercenary  viceroy  feigned  politeness ;  but  his  bloody 
designs  soon  became  apparent.  Shere  was  insulted  by  a  pike- 
man  ;  swords  were  drawn ;  our  hero  had  no  time  to  lose.  He 
spurred  his  horse  up  to  the  elephant  on  which  the  viceroy  sat, 
broke  down  the  amari,  or  castee,  and  cut  him  in  two.  He  turned 
his  sword  on  his  officers.  First  fell  Aba  Khan,  an  omrah  of  five 
thousand  horse.  Four  other  nobles  shared  the  same  fate.  A 
death  attended  every  blow.  The  other  chiefs,  astonished  and 
affrighted,  fled  to  a  distance,  and  formed  a  circle  around  him. 
They  galled  him  with  arrows ;  they  fired  with  their  muskets ;  his 
horse  fell  under  him.  Reduced  to  the  last  extremity,  he  chal- 
lenged his  foes  severally  to  single  combat,  but  in  vain.  He  had 
received  several  wounds,  and  now  plainly  saw  his  approaching 
fate.  Turning  his  face  toward  Mecca,  he  took  up  some  dust  in 
his  hand,  and,  for  want  of  water,  threw  it  by  way  of  ablution  on 
his  head.  He  then  stood  up  seemingly  unconcerned.  Six  balls 
entered  his  body  before  he  fell.  His  enemies  had  scarcely 
courage  to  come  near,  till  they  saw  him  in  the  last  agonies  of 
death.  They  extolled  his  valor  to  the  skies,  though  in  adding  to 
his  reputation  they  detracted  from  their  own. 

Mher-ul-Nissa  received  the  intelligence  of  the  fatal  combat 
with  fortitude  and  resignation.  She  was  sent  with  all  possible 
care  to  Delhi,  where  Jehanghire  then  held  his  court.  Though 
kindly  received  by  Rokia,  the  sultan's  sultana  begum,  the  em- 
peror's mother,  Jehanghire  refused  to  see  her.  Whether  his  mind 
was  now  fixed  on  another  object,  or  remorse  had  stung  his  soul, 
authors  do  not  agree.  He  gave  orders  to  shut  her  up  in  one  of 
the  worst  apartments  of  the  seraglio ;  and  contrary  to  his  usual 
munificence  to  women,  he  allowed  her  but  fourteen  annas  (about 
forty  cents)  per  day  for  the  subsistence  of  herself  and  several 
female  slaves.  Such  coldness  to  a  woman  whom  he  passionately 
loved  when  not  in  his  power,  was  unaccountable  and  absurd. 
The  haughty  Mher-ul-Nissa  could  not  brook  it.  She  had  no 
remedy.  She  gave  herself  up  to  grief  as  for  the  death  of  her 


252  nn>iA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

husband.  The  hope  of  an  opportunity  to  rekindle  the  emperor's 
former  love  at  length  reconciled  her  to  her  condition.  She  trust- 
ed to  the  astonishing  power  of  her  beauty,  which  to  conquer  re- 
quired only  to  be  seen.  An  expedient  soon  offered. 

To  raise  her  reputation  in  the  seraglio,  and  to  support  herself 
and  her  servants  with  more  decency,  she  called  forth  her  inven- 
tion and  taste  in  working  some  admirable  pieces  of  tapestry  and 
embroidery,  in  painting  silks  with  exquisite  delicacy,  and  invent- 
ing female  ornaments  of  every  kind.  These  articles  were  car- 
ried by  her  servants  to  the  different  squares  of  the  royal  seraglio, 
and  to  the  harems  of  the  great  officers  of  the  empire.  The  in- 
ventions of  Mher-ul-Nissa  so  much  excelled  everything  of  their 
kind  that  nothing  was  in  high  esteem  among  the  ladies  of  Agra 
and  Delhi  but  the  work  of  her  hand.  By  these  means  she  accu- 
mulated a  considerable  sum  of  money,  with  which  she  repaired 
and  beautified  her  apartments,  and  clothed  her  slaves  in  the  rich- 
est tissues  and  brocades,  while  she  herself  affected  a  very  plain 
and  simple  dress. 

In  this  situation  the  widow  of  Shere  continued  four  years, 
without  once  having  seen  the  emperor.  Her  fame  reached  his 
ears  from  every  part  of  the  seraglio.  Curiosity  at  length  van- 
quished his  resolution,  and  he  determined  to  be  an  eye-witness 
of  what  he  had  so  often  heard.  He  resolved  to  surprise  Mher- 
ul-Nissa ;  and  communicating  his  purpose  to  no  one,  he  suddenly 
entered  her  apartments,  when  he  was  struck  with  amazement  to 
find  everything  so  neat  and  elegant.  But  the  greatest  ornament 
of  all  was  Mher-ul-Nissa  herself.  She  lay  half  reclined  on  an 
embroidered  sofa,  in  a  plain  muslin  dress.  Her  slaves  sat  in  a 
circle  around  her,  at  their  work,  attired  in  rich  brocades.  She 
slowly  arose,  in  manifest  confusion,  and  received  the  emperor 
with  the  usual  ceremony  of  touching  first  the  ground,  then 
her  forehead,  with  her  right  hand.  She  uttered  not  a  word,  but 
stood  with  her  eyes  fixed  on  the  ground.  Jehanghire  remain- 
ed for  some  time  silent.  He  admired  her  shape,  her  stature,  her 
beauty,  her  grace,  and  that  inexpressible  fascination  of  mien 
which  it  is  impossible  to  resist. 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

Having  recovered  from  his  confusion,  Jehanghire  at  length  sat 
down  on  the  sofa,  and  requested  Mher-ul-Nissa  to  sit  by  his  side. 
Astonished  at  the  simplicity  of  her  dress,  the  first  question  he 
asked  her  was :  "  "Why  this  difference  between  Mher-ul-Nissa  and 
her  slaves  ?"  She  very  shrewdly  replied  :  "  Those  born  to  servi- 
tude must  dress  as  shall  please  those  whom  they  serve.  These 
are  my  servants,  and  I  alleviate  the  burden  of  bondage  by  every 
indulgence  in  my  power.  But  I  that  am  your  slave,  O  Emperor 
of  the  Moguls  !  must  dress  according  to  your  pleasure,  and  not 
my  own."  Though  a  sarcasm  on  his  conduct,  this  answer  was 
so  pertinent  and  well  turned  that  it  greatly  pleased  Jehanghire. 
He  took  her  at  once  in  his  arms.  His  former  affection  returned 
with  all  its  violence  ;  and  the  very  next  day  public  orders  were 
issued  to  prepare  a  magnificent  festival  for  the  celebration  of  his 
nuptials  with  Mher-ul-Nissa.  Her  name  was  also  changed  by  an 
edict  into  Nbor  Mahal,  or  the  Light  of  the  Harem.  The  em- 
peror's former  favorites  vanished  before  her;  and  during  the  rest 
of  the  reign  of  Jehnghire  she  bore  the  chief  sway  in  all  the  af- 
fairs of  the  empire. 

Her  adroit  management  for  her  family  was  scarcely  less  re- 
markable than  that  for  herself.  Her  father  was  raised  to  the 
first  office  in  the  empire ;  her  brothers  were  made  nobles ;  and  a 
numerous  train  of  relations  poured  in  from  Tartary  to  share  in 
the  good  fortune  of  the  family  of  Aiass.  All  were  gratified  with 
lucrative  employments ;  some  with  high  ones.  JS"o  family  ever 
rose  to  rank  and  eminence  more  suddenly  or  more  deservedly. 
The  charms  of  the  new  sultana  estranged  the  mind  of  the  em- 
peror from  all  public  affairs.  Easy  in  his  temper,  and  naturally 
voluptuous,  the  powers  of  his  soul  were  locked  up  in  the  pleasing 
enthusiasm  of  love  by  the  engaging  conversation  and  the  extra- 
ordinary beauty  of  Noor  Mahal.  She,  for  the  most  part,  ruled 
over  him  with  absolute  sway ;  sometimes  his  spirit  broke  forth 
from  her  control.  An  edict  was  issued  again  to  change  her  name  «£  ^ 
from  Noor  Mahal,  the  Light  of  the  Harem,  to  Noor  Jehan,  the 
Light  of  the  World.  To  distinguish  her  from  the  wives  of  the 
emperor,  she  was  always  addressed  by  the  title  of  Shahe,  or  em- 


254  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

press.  Her  name  was  joined  with  that  of  the  emperor  on  the 
current  coin.  She  was  the  spring  which  moved  the  great  machine 
of  the  state.  Her  family  took  rank  immediately  after  the  princes 
of  the  blood.  They  were  admitted  at  all  hours  into  the  presence; 
nor  were  they  excluded  from  the  most  secret  parts  of  the  seraglio. 
Indeed,  she  exercised  a  complete  control  over  the  mind  of  the 
emperor.  He  dared  attempt  nothing  without  her  concurrence. 
She  disposed  of  the  highest  offices  at  pleasure,  and  the  greatest 
honors  were  conferred  at  her  nod.  The  magnificence  of  the 
favorite  sultana  was  beyond  all  bounds.  Expensive  pageants, 
sumptuous  entertainments,  were  the  whole  business  of  the  court. 
The  voice  of  music  never  ceased  by  day  in  the  steets ;  the  sky 
was  brightened  at  night  by  fire-works  and  illuminations.  The 
magnificent  gardens  and  the  rich  and  stately  palaces  of  Agra  and 
Delhi  were  alternately  vocal  with  the  festivity  and  joy  of  a  most 
luxurious  court. 

Agra,  the  imperial  city,  now  displayed  all  the  beauty  and  splen- 
dor which  eastern  wealth,  despotism  and  luxuriance  could  so 
readily  bestow.  The  imperial  palace,  built  of  the  richest  white 
marble,  with  its  spacious  hall  of  audience  ceiled  with  silver,  and 
hung  with  the  most  costly  tapestry,  and  adorned  with  embroid- 
ered sofas,  gay  ottomans,  and  furniture  of  the  richest  description ; 
with  its  many  suites  of  marble  apartments,  decorated  with  mo- 
saics of  flowers  executed  in  many  colored  agates  and  cornelians, 
ovelooking  the  beautiful  waters  of  the  Jumna,  was  the  centre  of 
magnificence  and  beauty.  The  tomb  of  Acbur ;  the  fort,  with 
its  lofty  walls  and  turrets ;  the  mausoleum  of  Aiass,  already 
mentioned ;  the  Mootee  Musjid,  or  the  pearl  mosque,  rivaling  in 
beauty  and  splendor  the  Taaj  Mahal  itself;  with  gardens,  foun- 
tains, noblemen's  palaces,  and  the  towering  domes  of  a  hundred 
mosques,  combined  to  form  the  glory  of  the  once  renowned  seat 
of  Moslem  power. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  the  English  embassadors  first  ap- 
peared at  the  court  of  the  Great  Mogul.  On  several  occasions 
they  witnessed  the  full  pomp  of  this  luxurious  court.  They  re- 
present the  splendor  and  extravagance  of  the  court  as  almost 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  255 

incredible.  Precious  stones  and  jewels  appeared  in  the  greatest 
profusion.  The  person  of  the  emperor,  on  state  occasions,  was 
not  only  covered,  but  ladened  with  pearls,  rubies  and  diamonds ; 
and  his  elephants,  with  gilded  trappings,  had  their  heads  orna- 
mented with  valuable  jewels.  Nothing  astonished  the  foreigners 
more  than  the  grandeur  of  the  royal  encampment  when  the  em- 
peror had  taken  the  field.  The  imperial  tents  were  surrounded 
by  a  wall  half  a  mile  in  circuit;  and  the  tents  of  his  nobles  exhib- 
ited the  most  elegant  shapes  and  brilliant  variety  of  colors.  The 
whole  vale,  in  which  they  were  collected,  resembled  a  beautiful 
city.  Mighty  monarchs !  Unrivaled  beauty  and  magnificence ! 
Where  are  they?  The  haughty  race  of  Timour  have  passed 
away  like  a  morning  cloud.  The  peacock-throne  is  deserted; 
the  proud  city  has  fallen ;  stately  palaces,  tombs  and  mosques  are 
crumbling  to  the  dust.  Only  a  few  marble  monuments  remain  to 
tell  how  great,  how  little  —  how  strong,  how  weak  —  how  vain 
the  Moslems  were ! 

Two  centuries  have  passed,  and  yet  Agra  still  presents  some  of 
the  noblest  specimens  of  human  art — the  sad  relics  of  Moham- 
medan wealth  and  greatness.  On  surveying  the  ruins  of  Agra, 
and  contemplating  the  marble  palaces  and  mausoleums  which 
still  remain,  a  modern  traveler,  the  writer  of  "  Scenes  and  Char- 
acteristics in  Hindoostan,"  says :  "  The  delights  of  my  childhood 
rushed  to  my  soul ;  those  magic  tales,  from  which,  rather  than 
from  the  veritable  pages  of  history,  I  had  gathered  my  knowledge 
of  eastern  arts  and  arms,  arose  in  all  their  original  vividness.  I 
felt,  indeed,  that  I  was  in  the  land  of  genii,  and  that  the  gorgeous 
palaces,  the  flowery  labyrinths,  the  oriental  gems  and  glittering 
thrones,  so  long  classed  with  ideal  splendors,  were  not  the  fic- 
titious offspring  of  romance.  *  *  *  Here  the  reader  of  east- 
ern romance  may  realize  his  dreams  of  fairy  land,  and  contem- 
plate those  wondrous  scenes  so  faithfully  delineated  in  the 
brilliant  pages  of  the  Arabian  Mghts." 

But  to  return  to  the  favorite  sultana.  She  had  now  completed 
her  ascendancy  over  the  mind  of  the  emperor.  Her  influence  at 
court  was  supreme.  Nothing  could  stand  before  her.  Her 


256  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

caprices  were  law ;  her  intrigues  for  her  children  for  a  long  period 
distracted  the  whole  empire ;  and  she  never  failed  to  take  signal 
vengeance  on  all  who  sought  to  thwart  her  wishes.  Mohabet 
Khan,  a  loyal  omrah  and  faithful  adviser  of  the  emperor,  at 
length  unhappily  crossed  the  path  of  this  ambitious  woman. 
The  machinations  of  her  evil  genius  were  now  awakened  to  re- 
move the  troublesome  nobleman ;  for  she  could  revenge  as  well 
as  fascinate.  So  powerfully  had  she  wrought  on  the  mind  of  a 
weak  and  credulous  prince,  that  she  soon  procured  his  recall  from 
an  important  foreign  service,  under  the  suspicion  of  conspiracy. 
He  came,  found  the  emperor  encamped  on  the  bank  of  the  Jum- 
na, and  immediately  formed  the  bold  design  of  seizing  his  person. 
He  entered  the  imperial  tent  with  five  hundred  brave  rajpoots, 
and  bore  away  the  imperial  spoil.  Koor  Jehan  was  with  the 
main  army  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river.  Enraged  at  the 
disaster  which  had  befallen  her  royal  spouse,  the  fair  sultana  re- 
solved to  make  one  desperate  effort  to  rescue  the  emperor.  The 
river  was  to  be  forded  in  the  face  of  the  hostile  rajpoots.  Mounted 
on  an  elephant,  the  "  Light  of  the  Harem  "  first  plunged  into  the 
river,  with  her  daughter  by  her  side.  She  exposed  herself  to  the 
hottest  of  the  battle,  and  emptied  four  quivers  of  arrows  on  the 
enemy.  The  young  lady  was  wounded  in  the  arm,  but  the 
mother  pressed  on.  Three  of  her  elephant-drivers  were  success- 
ively killed,  and  her  elephant  was  severely  wounded.  The  raj- 
poots rushed  into  the  river  to  seize  her ;  but  the  master  of  her 
household,  mounting  an  elephant,  saved  her  from  their  hands. 

The  battle  was  long,  and  desperate,  and  bloody.  Complete 
victory  remained  to  Mohabet  and  his  invincible  rajpoots.  The 
emperor  was  retained  a  prisoner ;  and  the  flickering  "  Light  of 
the  World,"  with  diminishing  rays,  retired  to  Lahore.  She  was 
soon  recalled  by  stratagem  to  the  presence  of  her  fallen  lord, 
accused  of  treason,  and  her  own  husband  compelled  to  sign  her 
death  warrant.  The  dreadful  message  was  delivered  to  the  sul- 
tana. She  heard  it  without  emotion.  "  Imprisoned  sovereigns," 
said  she,  "  lose  their  right  to  life  with  their  freedom ;  but  permit 
me  once  to  see  the  emperor,  and  to  bathe  with  my  tears  the  hand 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  257 

that  lias  fixed  the  seal  to  the  warrant  of  death."  Mohabet  con- 
sented to  the  interview,  on  condition  that  it  should  be  in  his 
presence.  She  entered.  She  uttered  not  a  word.  Her  beauty 
shone  with  additional  lustre  through  her  sorrow.  Jehanghire 
burst  into  tears.  "  Will  you  not  spare  this  woman,  Mohabet  ?  " 
said  the  emperor ;  "  you  see  how  she  weeps."  "  The  Emperor 
of  the  Moguls,"  replied  Mohabet,  "  should  never  ask  in  vain." 
The  guards  retired  from  her  at  the  wave  of  his  hand ;  and  she 
was  restored  that  instant  to  her  former  attendants. 

The  noble  Mohabet,  having  vindicated  his  character  and  re- 
duced the  emperor  to  the  necessity  of  granting  his  own  terms, 
generously  liberated  his  royal  prisoners.  But  the  vindictive  em- 
press, once  chagrined  and  humbled,  ceased  not  to  pursue  the 
man  who  had  spared  her  life  when  in  his  power,  till  he  was  re- 
duced to  the  condition  of  a  fugitive  and  a  beggar.  She  again 
governed  the  empire  without  control. 

But  the  meridian  was  passed ;  our  eastern  luminary  was  sink- 
ing beneath  her  horizon.  "  The  Sun  of  Women,"  "  the  Light  of 
the  World,"  continued  to  wane,  till,  in  the  death  of  Jehanghire, 
she  set  to  rise  no  more.  Shah  Jehan  mounted  the  throne.  An- 
other favorite  sultana  irradiated  the  harem ;  and  the  once  beauti- 
ful Mher-ul-Islssa,  whose  charms  and  brilliant  wit  and  diplomatic 
intrigue  had  for  many  years  swayed  the  most  powerful  court  of 
which  the  world  could  then  boast,  now  ruined  in  all  her  schemes 
of  ambition,  remained  a  prisoner  at  large  in  the  imperial  palace 
at  Lahore. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  court  at  Agra  shone  in  all  the  splendor 
of  oriental  magnificence.  !New  palaces  were  erected,  new  and 
more  stately  gardens  formed,  and  new  inventions  of  pleasure 
and  new  pomp  and  show  marked  the  reign  of  this  extravagant 
prince.  Even  the  gorgeous  shows  and  the  brilliant  festivals  of 
the  favorite  sultana  of  the  late  reign  are  said  to  have  vanished  in 
the  superior  graudeur  of  those  exhibited  at  the  court  of  Shah 
Jehan.  Having  assassinated  his  elder  brother,  and  exterminated 
every  male  of  the  house  of  Timour,  he  had  assumed  the  royal 

umbrella  under  the  pompous  titles  of  "  The  Star  of  the  true 
17 


258  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

Faith ;  the  second  Lord  of  the  Happy  Conjunctions ;  Mohammed,  the 
King  of  the  World!" 

A  single  instance  will  serve  as  a  specimen  of  the  vanity  and 
splendor  of  the  imperial  court  at  this  time :  On  a  festive  occasion 
— the  birth  of  a  son  to  the  heir-apparent  to  his  empire  —  the 
emperor  mounted  a  new  throne  formed  of  pure  solid  gold,  em- 
bossed with  various  figures,  and  studded  with  precious  stones. 
This  throne  had  been  seven  years  in  preparing ;  and  the  expense 
of  the  jewels  only  amounted  to  one  million  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  pounds  sterling !  It  was  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
the  Tuckt-Taous,  or  the  peacock-throne,  from  having  the  figures 
of  two  peacocks  standing  behind  it,  with  their  tails  spread,  which 
were  studded  with  jewels  of  various  colors  to  represent  life.  Be- 
tween the  peacocks  stood  a  parrot  of  the  ordinary  size,  cut  out 
of  one  emerald.  The  finest  jewel  in  the  throne  was  a  ruby  which 
fell  into  the  hands  of  Timour  among  the  rich  spoils  of  Delhi. 

"  The  Sun  of  Women "  must  at  length  sink  from  our  view. 
"  The  Light  of  the  Harem  "  was  extinguished.  Noor  Mahal  died 
in  her  palace-prison  at  Lahore,  in  the  year  1645.  Her  power 
had  ceased  with  the  death  of  her  husband;  and  she  was  after- 
ward too  proud  even  to  speak  of  public  affairs ;  and,  therefore, 
she  devoted  her  remaining  days  to  study,  retirement  and  ease. 

In  beauty  and  grace,  she  excelled  all  the  women  of  the  East ; 
nor  was  she  less  extraordinary  in  the  peculiar  features  of  her 
mind.  She  rendered  herself  absolute  in  a  government  in  which 
women  are  thought  incapable  of  participating.  Their  power,  it 
is  true,  is  sometimes  exerted  in  the  harem ;  but  like  the  virtues 
of  the  magnet,  it  is  there  silent  and  unperceived.  ROOT  Mahal 
stood  forth  in  public ;  she  broke  through  all  restraint  and  cus- 
tom; and  acquired  power  by  her  own  address  more  than  by  the 
weakness  of  Jehanghire.  Ambitious,  passionate,  insinuating,  cun- 
ning, bold  and  vindictive,  yet  her  character  was  never  stained 
with  cruelty ;  and  she  maintained  the  reputation  of  chastity, 
when  no  restraint  but  virtue  remained.  Her  passions  were  in- 
deed too  masculine.  When  we  see  her  acting  the  part  of  a  sol- 
dier, she  excites  our  ridicule  more  than  admiration.  It  seems  to 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  259 

detract  from  the  soft  charms  of  the  captivating  Mher-ul-Nissa, 
and  transcends  that  goal  of  feminine  delicacy  beyond  which  her 
sex  ceases  to  please. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Hindoo  Holy  Days — List  of  them — Their  Character — Their  Influence  on  the  People. 

I  HAD  heard  it  remarked,  in  Calcutta,  on  my  arrival  in  the 
country,  that  the  Hindoo  holy  days  amounted,  in  all,  to  the  enor- 
mous number  of  three  months  and  five  days  in  the  year.  I  sup- 
posed this  to  be  an  exaggeration;  but  a  further  acquaintance 
with  the  observances  of  this  people  convinced  me  that  the  num- 
ber of  such  days  was  astonishingly  great,  and  perhaps  might 
amount  to  ninety-five,  as  asserted.  This  led  to  a  more  particular 
inquiry;  and  having  in  my  service  an  intelligent  Brahmun,  who 
had  shown  an  unusual  willingness  to  communicate  to  me  the 
rites  and  mysteries  of  his  religion,  I  requested  him  to  draw  up  a 
full  account  of  all  the  holy  days  which  are  observed  by  the  Hin- 
doos in  each  month  of  the  year.  I  have  carefully  translated  this 
paper,  and,  did  space  allow,  would  present  it  entire.  It  contains, 
as  the  Brahmun  said,  a  complete  list  of  each  holy  day  in  every 
month  of  the  year,  in  the  order  in  which  they  occur,  the  reasons 
of  each,  and  the  manner  of  its  observance.  I  shall  refer  to  a 
few  as  specimens.  The  reader  may  readily  imagine  what  must 
be  the  social  and  moral  influence  on  a  people,  of  so  large  a  num- 
ber of  days  devoted  to  pastimes  and  frivolity. 

These  holy  days  are  not  alike  observed  by  all  classes  of  the 
people.  Some  are  of  a  general  character,  and  consequently  com- 
mand the  attention  of  all  castes,  while  others  are  confined  to  a 
particular  caste.  There  is,  however,  a  strange  accommodation 
on  this  subject.  A  holy  day  affords  an  excuse  for  idleness  and 
revelry ;  and  none  stop  to  inquire  what  is  the  religious  design  of 


260  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

the  day.  Hence  the  Hindoo,  the  Mussulman,  the  Parsee,  and 
the  native  Christian  are  not  unfrequently  seen  mingled  together 
in  the  same  observance.  They  mutually  observe  each  other's 
festivals,  so  far  as  to  suspend  their  business,  and  make  them  days 
of  pastime  and  frivolity.  The  Hindoo,  or  the  Mussulman,  or  the 
Parsee,  as  well  as  the  native  Christian,  will,  if  in  your  service, 
remind  you,  on  the  25th  December,  that  it  is  natal  day,  or 
Christmas ;  and  he  expects  a  present  on  that  day,  and  freedom 
from  labor.  'There  is,  perhaps,  not  a  more  fertile  source  of  the 
poverty  and  of  the  depravity  of  this  people,  than  their  holy 
days. 

The  Hindoo  year  is  divided  into  twelve  months,  and  each 
month  into  two  parts  of  fifteen  days.  The  first  month  of  their 
year  commences  with  the  middle  of  March,  and  ends  at  the  mid- 
dle of  April,  and  so  on  with  other  months. 

CHYTEA,  THE  FIRST  MONTH  —  FROM  15TH  MARCH  TO  15TH  APRIL. 

Prutipuda,  New  Year's  day.  —  "  On  this  day  all  the  people  rub 
their  bodies  with  unctuous  substances,  preparatory  to  ablution ; 
bathe,  erect  a  pole,  on  which  is  suspended  a  cloth  and  a  mango 
sprig,  and  worship  it.  They  eat  the  leaves  of  the  lime-tree,  and 
close  the  day  by  feasting  Brahmuns  and  making  them  presents. 
On  this  day  commence  the  festivities  in  honor  of  Ram,  and  the 
worship  of  the  saints." 

Ramunuwumee,  the  birth-day  of  Earn,  and  the  9th  day  of  the 
light  half  of  the  moon. — "  On  this  day,  the  worshipers  of  Vish- 
noo,  of  whom  Ram  is  an  incarnation,  celebrate  the  praises  of 
their  god  in  the  temple  of  Ramschundu,  with  music,  singing,  and 
reciting  the  names  of  that  deity.  After  having  related  the 
various  stories  relative  to  the  birth  and  childhood  of  Ram,  and 
celebrated  his  honors  for  half  the  day,  and  given  the  accustomed 
presents  and  blessings,  they  form  processions,  and  march  through 
the  streets.  On  the  next  day  they,  for  the  most  part,  feast  the 
Brahmuns ;  and,  on  the  night  of  the  same  day,  they  have  a  dra- 
matic entertainment,  which  consists  of  songs,  beating  tomtoms, 
playing  on  instruments  of  music,  and  throwing  the  red  powder." 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  261 

The  powder  used  on  this  occasion  is  composed  of  two  kinds  of 
grain,  bajree  and  nachunee,  dyed  with  a  decoction  of  red  sandal 
wood. 

Shunkust  Chutooruthee,  the  fourth  day  of  the  dark  half  of  each 
month,  on  which  ceremonies  are  performed  for  the  averting  of 
difficulties  and  troubles.  —  "  On  this  day  the  people  observe  a  fast 
to  Gunputtee,  whom  they  worship  at  evening.  Having  pre- 
sented the  accustomed  offering  of  food,  they  invite  and  dine  as 
many  Brahmuns  as  they  can  (from  the  food  offered  in  sacrifice). 
It  must  always  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Brahmun's  mouth  is 
the  way  to  the  god's  betty.  On  this  day  many  make  vows,  that 
they  may  obtain  a  son."  Gunputtee,  which  means  lord  of  troops, 
or  god  of  hosts,  is  a  god  very  generally  worshiped  by  all  classes 
of  people.  He  is  represented  as  a  short  fat  man,  with  the  head 
of  an  elephant.  He  is  the  god  of  wisdom,  and  the  remover  of 
difficulties.  Hence  vows  are  made  to  him  in  cases  of  difficulty 
and  distress ;  as  when  a  person  has  no  male  issue,  &c.  He  is  also 
invoked  at  the  commencement  of  all  undertakings,  at  the  open- 
ing of  compositions,  at  the  setting  out  on  a  journey,  &c.,  &c.  A 
Hindoo  will  not  write  a  note  of  two  sentences  without  com- 
mencing it  with  an  invocation  to  Gunputtee.  To  gratify  the 
whim  of  the  natives  in  this  thing,  government  papers,  documents, 
orders  and  the  like,  are  allowed,  by  their  English  governors,  to 
commence  with  an  invocation  to  a  heathen  deity. 

Shicaratha,  the  night  of  Shiva,  which  occurs  on  the  14th  of 
the  dark  half  of  every  month,  but  more  especially  observed  on 
the  14th  of  the  month  Maghu. — "  On  this  night,  fasting,  vigils, 
and  other  religious  ceremonies  are  observed  in  honor  of  Shiva. 
The  people  (during  the  fast,  it  seems,)  eat  fruit,  parched  corn, 
and  the  like.  On  this  night  the  Shukta  people  worship  the 
Shuktee,  and  feast."  The  origin  of  the  observance  of  this  night 
is  given  in  a  well  known  legend  thus :  A  hunter  had  climbed  up 
a  bilina  tree  to  observe  a  deer,  which  he  was  pursuing.  During 
the  whole  night,  he  shook  down  leaves  upon  a  lingam,  which 
lay  hid  underneath ;  and  thus,  though  unintentionally  and  ignor- 
antly,  he  propitiated  and  won  the  heart  of  Shiva,  who  forthwith 


262  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

conferred  Moksha  on  him,  and  ordered  this  night  to  be  kept  in 
commemoration  of  the  pious  deed.  Moksha,  that  is,  final  and 
eternal  beatitude,  which  mean,  in  Hindooism,  the  deliverance  of 
the  soul  from  the  body,  its  exemption  from  further  migrations, 
and  its  complete  absorption  in  the  great  Spirit  of  the  universe. 

I  will  give  a  word  of  explanation  concerning  the  worship  of 
the  Shuktee  by  the  Shuktas.  The  abominable  sect  of  the  Shuk- 
tas  is  the  "  secret  society"  alluded  to  in  the  commencement  of 
the  memoir,  to  which  Babajee  once  belonged.  Shuktee  here 
means  the  phalic  personification  of  the  female,  as  the  counter- 
part of  the  lingam,  or  the  phalic  personification  of  Shiva.  This 
sect,  in  Bombay,  is  said  to  amount  to  500  persons,  principally 
Brahmuns  and  natives  of  the  higher  castes.  The  meetings  are 
secret,  and  their  belief  and  observances  little  known  among  the 
common  people.  Here  the  members,  of  whatever  order,  carouse 
and  debauch  together  without  distinction  of  caste.  In  defiance 
of  all  law  and  custom,  they  eat  beef  and  drink  brandy,  profess- 
ing no  longer  to  be  bound  by  the  distinctions  and  usages  of  caste, 
or  to  be  burdened  by  the  rites  and  observances  of  their  old  sys- 
tem of  belief.  They  say  they  worship  in  spirit,  and  hence  call 
themselves  spiritual  worshipers.  This  sect  may  not  unlikely  be 
taken  as  a  specimen  of  what  the  nation  would  be,  if,  by  any  secu- 
lar process,  we  were  to  take  away  the  restraints  which  caste  and 
other  usages  of  their  religion  impose  upon  them,  and  were  not 
to  supply  the  place  of  these  with  the  salutary  restraints  of  Gos- 
pel morality. 

Amawashya,  the  day  of  the  new  moon.  —  "On  this  day  the 
people  perform  the  Shradha  in  honor  of  deceased  relatives. 
They  invite  a  Brahmun  in  the  name  of  their  deceased  relative ; 
or  if  one  family  be  too  poor,  two  unite,  feast  him,  make  him  a 
present,  and  then  perform  the  ceremony  of  the  Shradha."  The 
Shradha  is  a  funeral  ceremony,  observed  at  various  fixed  periods, 
consisting  of  offerings  with  water  and  fire  to  the  gods,  and  to 
the  names  of  the  deceased ;  and  gifts  and  food  to  the  relatives 
present,  and  to  the  officiating  Brahmuns.  It  is  especially  per- 
for  a  relative  recently  deceased;  for  three  parental  ances- 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  263 

tors,  or  for  all  their  ancestors  collectively.  The  ceremony  is  re- 
garded indispensable  to  secure  the  ascent  and  residence  there  of 
the  soul  of  the  departed  into  the  world  appropriated  to  the 
manes.  There  are  many  modes  of  performing  this  ceremony ; 
and  many  are  its  pretended  purposes  or  objects. 

JYESHT,  MAY  —  JUNE. 

Dushuhara,  the  tenth  day  of  the  month.  This  is  the  day  on 
which  the  Gunga,  or  Ganges,  descended  from  heaven  to  earth ; 
and  whoever  bathes  in  the  sacred  stream  on  this  day,  is  purified 
from  ten  varieties  of  sin. — "  On  this  day  the  people,  according  to 
their  respective  ability,  invite  Brahmuns  to  their  houses,  and 
worship  them  in  honor  of  Vishnoo,  distribute  to  them  rice  and 
fruits,  and  make  presents,  as  far  as  they  are  able." 

Wutusavitree,  the  worship  of  the  goddess,  or  the  divinity  which 
is  fancied  to  be  in  the  sacred  tree,  when  worship  is  paid  to  it. — 
"  On  this  day  married  women  worship  the  large  Indian  fig-tree, 
fast,  give  presents  of  fruits,  sweetmeats,  light  dishes  of  food, 
articles  of  dress,  decorations,  &c.,  to  Brahmuns,  and  to  one 
another,  pilfer  trifles,  dispense  charity  as  they  are  able,  and  on 
the  next  day  feast." 

SHRAWAN,  JULY  —  AUGUST. 

Nag  Punchumee,  the  fifth  day  of  the  first  half  of  the  month. 
Nag,  a  serpent.  —  "On  this  day  all  the  people,  men,  women,  and 
children,  collect  and  worship  the  serpent.  The  women  sing 
songs,  make  mud  images  of  the  serpent,  or  draw  figures  of  ser- 
pents on  paper,  and  worship  them.  According  to  their  ability, 
they  feast  Brahmuns  and  make  them  presents."  I  have  twice 
witnessed  this  festival  at  Ahmednuggur.  The  singing,  feasting, 
and  merry-making  were,  as  is  usually  the  case,  for  the  most  part, 
beyond  the  ken  of  my  observation.  In  the  afternoon  of  this  day, 
the  whole  population  of  the  town,  as  one  would  suppose,  leave 
their  homes,  and  go  into  the  fields  in  search  of  the  holes  of  ser- 
pents. The  whole  immense  plain,  west  of  our  house,  as  far  as  I 
could  see,  was  but  one  moving  mass  of  people  coming  and  going. 


264  INDIA   AND   ITS    PEOPLE. 

The  chief  object  of  worship  on  this  day  is  the  corbra  copella. 
The  hole  of  this  venomous  reptile  is  generally  found  in  the  large 
ant-hills,  four  or  five  feet  high,  which  are  met  with  in  every  part 
of  the  Deckan.  The  people  seek  out  these  holes,  and  there  pay 
their  stupid  adorations  to  the  fearful  reptile,  who  lives  coiled  in 
his  burrow  as  insensible  of  the  honor  paid  him,  as  the  people 
who  render  it  are  insensible  of  the  duty  which  they  owe  to  the 
true  God. 

Poorneema,  the  day  of  the  full  moi/n,  -"  On  this  day  the  Brah- 
muns  eat  the  punchaguvya,  (the  five  sacred  products  of  the  cow, 
viz:  the  milk,  butter,  curd,  dung,  &c.,)  make  offerings,  renew 
the  sacred  thread,  feast  one  another,  make  presents,  and  tie  an  am- 
ulet to  the  arm,  after  having  consecrated  it  to  some  god.  This 
they  do  as  a  preventive  against  evil  spirits.  This  day  is  also 
called  Narulee  (cocoa-nut  day) ;  because  on  this  day  the  people  go 
to  the  sea-shore,  each  person  carrying  a  cocoa-nut;  and  having 
worshiped  the  sea,  which  at  this  season  of  the  year  is  generally 
in  awful  commotion,  throw  in  their  cocoa-nut,"  for  the  purpose 
of  quieting  its  raging  billows !  The  monsoon  is  now  pronounced 
to  be  passed,  and  the  boats  and  native  ships  put  out  again  to  sea. 
This  ceremony  performed,  presents  are  made  to  the  Brahmuns. 

Junmashtumee,  the  birth-day  of  Krishna,  the  eighth  day  of  the 
waning  moon.  —  "  Krishna  was  born  in  the  second  watch  of  the 
night  of  this  day.  The  Byragees  and  the  Goojurs  for  the  most 
part  conduct  the  festivities  of  this  occasion."  I  witnessed  a  part 
of  the  disgusting  ceremonies  of  this  celebration  about  two  years 
ago.  I  was  stopping  for  the  day  at  the  small  village  of  Choke. 
The  day  was  exceedingly  rainy,  and  the  low  country  in  the  Con- 
con  was  covered  with  mud  and  water.  From  an  early  hour  in 
the  morning,  we  had  been  disturbed  by  the  loud  singing  and  the 
carousing  of  the  natives.  I  went  out  about  eleven  o'clock  to 
ascertain  the  cause ;  and  never  did  I  witness  a  scene  which  made 
me  feel  so  much  that  I  was  beholding  the  sports  of  infernal 
spirits  loosed  from  the  pit.  Some  twenty  or  thirty  naked  crea- 
tures were  dancing  in  the  mud,  having  formed  themselves  in  a 
circle  before  the  image  of  the  abominable  Krishna,  singing  the 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  265 

praises  of  this,  the  vilest  of  their  gods,  in  a  voice  and  with  a 
mien  which  would  not  do  away  one's  first  impression  that  they 
were  from  beneath.  In  this  way,  different  companies  of  the  peo- 
ple spend  the  day.  Towards  evening  they  assemble  at  the  usual 
place  of  concourse,  put  the  image  of  Krishna  in  a  palanquin, 
and  carry  him  in  procession  about  the  village,  and  finally  bring 
him  to  a  river,  or  some  neighboring  pool  of  water,  in  which  they 
throw  him.  The  whole  scene  of  the  procession  is  quite  as  dis- 
gusting as  the  rites  of  the  morning.  Brahmuns  danced  naked 
before  the  procession,  and  the  palanquin  was  accompanied  and 
followed  by  a  rabble  of  every  caste,  some  adoring  the  image, 
and  others  playing  lascivious  pranks,  and  singing  bawdy  songs, 

which  recount  the  achievements  of  this  notable  god.     Mrs. , 

when  looking  from  a  distance  at  the  Brahmuns  dancing  almost 
naked  before  their  god,  said  she  did  not  wonder  that  Michal  was 
disgusted  when  she  saw  her  royal  spouse  dancing  naked  before 
the  ark,  if  he  resembled  these  Brahmuns.  David,  in  what  he 
did  in  this  instance,  acted,  not  unlikely,  in  conformity  with  an 
eastern  custom. 

BHADRUPUD,   AUGUST  —  SEPTEMBER. 

Tritiya  Huitalika,  the  worship  of  the  goddess  on  the  3d  day. — 
"  On  this  day  the  married  women  make  sand  images  of  Parwut- 
tee,  (the  wife  of  Shiva,)  and  worship  them,  and  fast.  On  the 
next  day  they  cast  away  these  images,  and  feast ! " 

Gunash  Chutoorutee,  the  festival  of  the  god  Gunputtee,  on  the 
fourth  lunar  day.  —  "  On  this  day  the  people  make  clay  images 
of  Gunputtee,  feast,  and  make  presents  to  the  Brahmuns,  as  they 
are  able.  Some  people  observe  this  day  with  great  festivities. 
After  a  few  days,  they  cast  these  images  into  the  water."  This 
festival  continues,  in  all,  ten  or  fifteen  days.  Some  retain  and 
worship  their  image  of  Gunputtee  but  four  or  five  days,  others 
much  longer.  The  casting  the  image  into  the  water  concludes 
the  festival.  The  spirit  of  Gunputte,  they  say,  descends,  and 
takes  possession  of  the  clay  tabernacle  which  they  have  pre- 


266  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

pared;  and  while  he  deigns  to  favor  them  with  his  presence, 
they  worship  him,  and  honor  his  presence  with  all  sorts  of  mirth 
and  festivity.  When  he  wishes  to  resume  his  seat  among  the 
gods,  they  take  his  image  to  the  river  side,  or  to  the  shore  of  the 
sea,  or  some  body  of  water,  and  throw  him  in,  knowing  that  he 
chooses  to  return  through  the  medium  of  that  "  element."  For 
this  purpose,  different  companies  may  be  seen  daily,  during  the 
continuance  of  the  festival,  going  in  procession  to  the  water  side. 
The  procession  is  as  grand  as  it  is  possible  for  the  parties  to 
make  it.  The  god  is  conveyed  on  a  man's  shoulder,  or  in  a  cart, 
or  a  carriage,  or  in  a  palanquin,  or  under  a  beautifully  orna- 
mented canopy,  as  the  persons  concerned  are  able.  The  equi- 
page of  the  procession,  and  the  bands  of  music,  depend  on  the 
same  circumstance.  Most  of  these  images  are  covered  with  tin- 
sel, and  cheap  showy  ornaments ;  and  some  of  them  are  richly 
ornamented,  and  covered  with  an  elegant  dress.  These,  how- 
ever, as  far  as  they  are  movable,  without  defacing  the  image, 
are  taken  off  before  it  is  thrown  into  the  water;  and  other  deco- 
rations are  afterwards  secured  by  the  boys,  who  immediately 
wade  or  swim  in,  and  rescue  the  sinking  god ;  and  either  drag 
him  out  whole,  or  break  off  a  head,  or  an  arm,  or  a  foot,  as  they 
choose. 

Dusura,  the  Doorga  Pooja,  on  the  10th  day  of  the  month,  the 
day  on  which  Ram  marched  against  Eawuna,  king  of  Ceylon. 
It  is  celebrated  with  great  splendor  and  show.  The  images  men- 
tioned above,  as  made  nine  days  before,  are  now  cast  into  the 
water.  —  "  On  this  day,  the  people  having  performed  the  unction, 
bathe.  The  people,  then,  acording  to  their  occupation,  respect- 
ively worship  those  things  by  the  aid  of  which  they  gain  a  live- 
lihood, or  enjoy  pleasure;  as  their  tools,  instruments,  papers, 
pen,  ink,  and  table,  palanquin,  horses,  &c.,  &c.  Having  feasted 
Brahmuns,  friends,  and  relations,  they  perform,  in  a  most  pomp- 
ous procession,  the  ceremony  of  the  Silunguna,  (passing  the 
borders  as  described  below.)  They  then  worship  the  thorn-tree, 
and  return  to  their  houses.  The  women  then  take  the  owalunee, 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  267 

a  dish  containing  money  and  other  articles  for  presents,  and  go 
about  waving  it,  and  singing,  Eda  peda  jao ;  Buleechu  rajya  howo; 
that  is, 

All  pain  and  affliction  be  gone — 
Let  the  kingdom  of  Bailee  come ; 

and  then  give  presents  to  those  for  whom  they  are  intended." 
The  ceremony  of  the  Silunguna  wears  very  much  of  a  military 
character  among  the  Mahrathas  in  the  Deckan.  The  Mahrathas 
•were  from  their  origin  a  warlike  people.  Formerly,  they  always 
considered  themselves  in  a  state  of  war,  which  was  their  princi- 
pal source  of  revenue.  On  the  day  of  this  festival,  they  prepared 
for  their  plundering  excursions,  by  washing  their  horses,  sacri- 
ficing to  each  a  sheep,  and  sprinkling  the  blood,  and  eating  the 
flesh.  In  one  year,  Sindia,  then  a  Mahratha  chief,  is  said  to 
have  slaughtered  12,000  sheep  for  this  purpose.  Brahmun  chiefs, 
who  are  prohibited  by  their  religious  creed  from  taking  life,  were 
in  the  habit  of  giving  their  servants  money  for  the  purchase  of 
sheep  on  this  occasion.  This  was  to  foster  a  martial  spirit.  The 
festival,  as  now  observed,  is  but  a  ceremony  in  imitation  of  the 
original  one.  The  people  are  at  present  seen  to  go  out  into  the 
fields  in  procession,  to  ride  about,  brandish  their  swords,  and  go 
through  a  mock  fight ;  but  it  is  not  practiced  now  as  a  prepara- 
tion for  war,  as  it  once  was. 

Nuruk  Chutoordushee,  the  14th,  the  day  on  which  Yishnoo 
killed  the  demon  Nuruk.  —  "  Before  sunrise  on  this  day,  the  peo- 
ple anoint  and  bathe.  They  then  eat  light  food,  spend  the  day 
at  play,  invite  their  friends  to  dinner,  and  wave  the  owalunee, 
as  a  charm  to  drive  away  evil  spirits.  At  night  they  illuminate 
their  houses,  and  display  fireworks.  This  is  the  festival  of  the 
Dewalee."  The  Dewalee  continues  for  three  days.  This  festival 
is  perhaps  the  worst  in  the  whole  year.  Gambling,  revelry,  de- 
bauchery, thieving,  lying,  roguery,  and  dissipation  of  every 
description  are  not  only  tolerated,  but  are  esteemed  praiseworthy 
on  this  day,  and  religious  acts.  And  what  is  still  more  deplor- 
able, it  is  said  that  the  English  Government,  or  at  least  some  of 


268  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

their  public  functionaries,  exercise  a  peculiar  indulgence  towards 
crimes  which  are  committed  on  this  day. 

KARTIK,   OCTOBER  —  NOVEMBER. 

i 

Dwadushee,  the  twelfth  day.  — "On  which  is  the  marriage  of 
the  toolsee-tree  (or  shrub).  All  the  people  on  this  day  marry,  in 
due  form,  the  toolsee  and  Ball  Krishna,  give  presents  to  Brah- 
muns,  and  throw  about  crackers."  The  toolsee  is  the  sacred  tree, 
which  is  reared  with  great  care,  and  may  be  seen  near  the  door 
of  almost  every  native  house.  Near  the  tree  is  always  deposited 
a  little  smooth  black  stone,  called  the  shalagram.  The  origin  of 
the  tree,  the  stone,  and  of  the  festival  connected  with  them,  is, 
according  to  the  story,  as  follows :  Ball  Krishna  had  fallen  in 
love  with  some  pretty  goddess ;  but  not  being  able  to  obtain  the 
object  of  his  passion,  he  fixed  on  an  expedient  that  he  might 
spend  his  life  in  the  presence  of  his  beloved,  though  he  might 
not  lawfully  marry  her.  He  struck  her  with  his  magic  wand, 
and  transformed  her  into  a  tree,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of 
toolsee,  and  ordered  that  this  tree  should  be  for  ever  worshiped. 
Or,  as  others  say,  she,  in  self-defense,  invoked  the  help  of  one  of 
the  gods,  who  thus  transformed  her.  He  converted  himself  also 
into  a  small,  smooth  stone,  which  he  directed  should  always  be 
placed  by  the  side  of  the  toolsee,  that  he  might  for  ever  enjoy 
her  presence;  and  further  ordained,  that  this  union  with  the 
goddess  should  be  commemorated  yearly,  by  marrying  the  stone 
and  the  tree.  Hence  these  are  formally  married  once  a  year. 

PHALUGOON,  FEBRUARY  —  MARCH.  j 

Poorneema,  the  day  of  full  moon. — "  This  is  the  festival  of  the 
Holee,  generaly  called  the  Shimgah.  If  the  village  be  small 
they  prepare  but  one  holee — if  large,  several.  The  holee  is  ? 
pile  of  wood,  or  of  cow  dung.  At  the  close  of  the  festival,  th( 
villager,  to  whom  the  honor  belongs,  brings  polee,  a  kind  of 
cake,  from  his  house,  sets  fire  to  the  pile,  worships  it,  presents  an 
offering,  and  throws  the  polee  on  the  burning  pile.  Then  all  the 
people  cast  on  polee.  The  people  also  build  private  piles  at  their 


IXDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  269 

own  houses,  set  them  on  fire,  worship  them,  throw  on  cocoa-nuts, 
and  perform  the  bomba."  The  bomba  is  the  cry  made  by  bel- 
lowing, and  at  the  same  time  beating  the  mouth  with  the  palm 
of  the  hand.  It  is  the  cry  of  distress,  except  during  this  festival, 
when  it  is  made  for  amusement.  This  festival  is  second  in  vile- 
ness  to  none,  unless  we  except  the  Dewalee.  Last  year  I  thought 
it  to  be  the  worst  of  the  two.  All  classes  of  people  participate 
in  it.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  retain  a  person  of  any  caste  in 
service  during  these  days.  All  seem  infatuated.  During  the 
last  four  days  of  the  Shimgah,  the  people  carouse  and  debauch 
both  night  and  day.  Processions  may  be  seen  at  all  times  of  the 
day  parading  through  the  streets,  disguised  with  masks,  dressed 
in  the  most  grotesque  manner,  and  their  bodies  and  faces  painted 
and  besmeared  with  red  or  yellow  powder.  They  throw  yellow 
dye  on  each  other,  bellow  through  the  streets  as  before  described, 
play  the  buffoon,  and  outrage  all  shame  and  decency.  On  the 
last  day  of  this  festival,  the  women  amuse  themselves  in  the 
streets  by  throwing  mud  and  dirt  at  each  other. 

At  the  time  of  the  Shimgah,  last  year,  I  was  at  Mahabulishwur 
Hills.  The  great  day  of  the  festival  occurred  on  Sunday.  As  I 
was  returning  from  church,  I  met  a  native  going  towards  the  vil- 
lage, naked,  painted,  and  spotted,  to  represent  a  leopard.  A  few 
hours  after,  a  company  of  natives  came  to  our  door  to  ask  the 
Shimgah  present.  On  looking  out,  a  scene,  such  as  I  never  be- 
held before,  presented  itself.  The  pit,  thought  I,  has  surely  now 
been  disgorged  of  its  inmates.  The  most  of  this  band  were 
naked,  and  painted  in  the  most  hideous  manner.  Some  were  on 
all-fours,  painted  in  representation  of  wild  beasts ;  some  wore 
masks ;  others  were  dragging  ponderous  chains ;  and  all  running, 
dancing  and  howling  most  infernally.  One  or  two  had  their 
naked  bodies  and  limbs  painted  and  variegated,  representing 
tigers,  with  great  chains  about  their  necks,  which  were  held  by 
their  keepers,  about  whom  they  clanked  their  chains  and 
gnashed  their  teeth.  It  is  a  practice  among  too  many  Europeans 
to  look  on  and  laugh  at  such  buffoonery,  and  make  the  actors 
presents.  It  is  in  consequence  of  this  practice,  I  have  been  told, 


270  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

that  the  Shimgah  has  become  a  season  of  more  foolery  and  dissi 
pation  than  it  formerly  was.  I  have  observed,  not  only  here 
but  in  Ahmednuggur,  that  the  main  object  of  these  vile  com- 
panies is  to  visit  the  houses  of  Europeans,  and  there  to  exhibit 
their  choicest  feats.  NOT  is  this  all.  Both  on  this  occasion  and 
on  that  of  the  Taboot,  a  Mussulman  festival,  many  Europeans 
actually  contributed  beforehand  to  enable  the  parties  to  get  up 
the  fete.  In  one  instance,  I  knew  the  officers  of  a  regiment  to 
fix  on  the  plan  (that  there  might  be  an  equality)  of  giving,  for 
this  purpose,  one  day's  pay,  which,  in  the  case  of  an  ensign  or 
cadet,  would  be  six  rupees,  or  three  dollars,  and  in  the  case  of  a 
colonel  five,  and,  in  some  instances,  ten  times  as  much. 

Towards  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  another  company  ap- 
peared before  my  house.  These  excited  feelings  far  more  painful 
than  those  in  the  morning  had  done.  Those  had  excited  my 
compassion.  I  pitied  them  as  poor  deluded  creatures,  who  had 
seldom,  if  ever,  heard  of  a  "  more  excellent  way  "  of  worshiping 
God.  They  were  strangers  to  me.  But  these  were  no  other  than 
the  older  boys  of  my  school.  For  several  days  previous  I  had  taken 
much  pains  to  instruct  them  in  reference  to  the  folly  of  the 
Shimgah.  The  whole  population  was  beginning  to  be  infatuated 
with  the  Shimgah  mania ;  and  I  had  very  particularly  pointed 
out  to  them  the  frivolity  and  the  wickedness  of  such  observances, 
urging  them,  at  the  same  tune,  by  my  wishes  on  the  subject,  and 
by  their  own  interest.  I  failed,  however,  as  the  event  would 
seem  to  show,  to  convince  them  even  that  such  exhibitions  would 
be  displeasing  to  me.  They  were  required  to  come  with  their 
teacher  to  my  house,  on  the  afternoon  of  a  Sunday,  to  be  cate- 
chised, and  to  receive  religious  instruction.  The  teacher  came  at 
the  appointed  hour,  as  usual.  I  asked  him  where  his  scholars 
were.  He  said  they  were  near,  and  he  would  call  them  if  I 
wished.  Suspecting  nothing,  I  told  him  to  do  so ;  when,  to  my 
no  small  astonishment,  they  rushed  out  from  a  neighboring  jun- 
gle, transformed  into  demons.  Some  were  naked,  and  painted  to 
resemble  ferocious  beasts;  other  were  clad  in  the  most  fantastic 
style.  One,  the  best  scholar  in  school,  who  had  for  some  time 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  271 

past  distinguished  himself  in  his  Scripture  lessons,  was  the  leader 
of  the  party.  He  had  his  body  bound  about  with  the  skins  of 
wild  beasts ;  and  from  the  ends  of  these  were  suspended  a  great 
number  of  bells,  some  as  large  as  cow-bells,  which  rung  at  every 
step.  Fain  would  I  have  believed  that  these  were  not  the  boys 
to  whom  I  had,  from  day  to  day,  been  teaching  catechisms, 
hymns,  and  the  commandments  of  the  one  living  and  true  God. 
I  do  not  suppose  they  came  in  defiance,  to  do  violence  to  the 
feelings  with  which  they  ought  to  have  known  I  regarded  the 
Sabbath,  or  to  show  their  contempt  of  what  I  had  said  in  refer- 
ence to  the  Shimgah.  I  suppose  it  to  have  been  no  more  than 
an  illustration  of  the  utter  heedlessness  with  which  they  had 
heard  what  I  had  said  to  them.  The  Shimgah  happened  to 
occur  on  that  day,  and  they  probably  only  thought  to  get  a 
present  from  me,  or  from  some  one  who  would  look  at  their 
fooleries. 

The  origin  of  this  festival,  like  the  origin  of  most  of  Hindoo 
holy  days,  is  involved  in  obscurity.  In  general,  no  one  can  guess 
their  origin,  from  the  contradictory  accounts  which  are  given  of 
them  by  the  natives.  I  have  heard  two  accounts  of  the  origin 
of  the  Shimgah ;  either  of  which  may  have  given  rise  to  some 
part  of  the  observances.  One  is,  that  a  certain  king,  in  a  rage, 
murdered  his  wife,  and  afterwards  burnt  her ;  and  hence  arose 
the  custom  of  yearly  erecting  and  burning  the  pile.  The  other 
story  is,  that  the  daughter  of  a  king  one  day  threw  herself  into 
the  fire,  when  the  father,  on  beholding  it  from  a  distance,  ran  to 
rescue  her,  crying  out  for  help,  and  at  the  same  time  beating  his 
mouth  with  his  hand.  Hence  originated  the  burning  of  the 
pile  in  commemoration  of  her  tragic  death,  and  the  beating  the 
mouth  with  the  hand  in  imitation  of  the  distressed  father. 

I  witnessed  an  instance  of  the  celebration  of  this  festival,  a 
few  days  before  leaving  Bombay,  which  may  be  taken  as  a  Euro- 
pean improvement  of  its  observance.  As  I  was  passing  along  the 
street  one  day,  I  saw  a  large  concourse  of  people  collected  about 
the  house  of  a  rich  native.  Presuming  they  were  engaged  in 
some  Shimgah  performance,  I  turned  aside  to  see  what  it  was, 


272  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

and  was  not  a  little  amused  at  the  character  of  the  exhibition. 
Several  natives  were  clad  in  the  garb,  and  were  mimicking  the 
habits  of  Europeans.  Some  as  military  officers,  some  as  soldiers 
and  servants,  and  others  as  gentlemen  and  ladies.  The  latter 
performed  a  European  dance,  greatly  to  the  amusement  of  their 
fellows.  Native  men  and  women  are  never  seen  dancing  together 
in  India.  Dancing  for  amusement,  is  performed  only  by  women 
of  ill  fame,  who  follow  this  as  their  profession,  and  dance  only 
for  pay.  The  promiscuous  dancing  of  the  two  sexes,  in  the  man- 
ner of  Europeans,  affords  the  natives  a  subject  of  much  ridicule, 
and,  not  unlikely,  of  contempt.  In  some  parts  of  the  East,  Euro- 
pean ladies  will  not  be  seen  dancing  in  public  on  this  account. 

It  appears  from  the  list,  that  the  number  of  Hindoo  festivals 
amount  in  all  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-four;  or,  if  we  include 
the  monthly  observance  of  the  sun's  passing  from  one  sign  of 
the  zodiac  to  another,  (only  one  of  which  I  have  numbered,)  we 
have  one  hundred  and  forty-five.  That  is,  ten  which  occur 
monthly,  and  twenty-five  anniversaries.  And  if  we  would  know 
how  large  a  portion  of  the  Hindoo's  time  may  be  consumed  in 
religious  observances,  or  in  rites  in  some  way  imposed  by  their 
religion,  we  must  wade  through  two  or  three  other  catalogues, 
as  tedious,  perhaps,  as  the  one  we  have  just  closed.  I  mean,  of 
the  observances  on  account  of  births,  marriages,  and  deaths. 
From  the  first  embryo  existence  of  the  child  till  he  is  consigned 
to  his  mother  earth,  there  is  probably  not  a  month,  perhaps  not 
a  week,  in  which  it  is  not  required  that  some  ceremony  be  per- 
formed, when  a  Brahmun  must  be  called,  and  presents  given. 
Nor  do  these  vultures  yield  their  prey  to  death.  His  manes  must 
be  feasted,  through  a  Brahmun's  mouth,  and  offerings  be  made 
for  his  benefit,  through  a  Brahmun's  hand. 


V"  ' 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  273 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

Holy  Places  in  India  —  Their   Influence  on   the  People — How  kept  in  Character. 

HOLY  places  in  India  are  almost  innumerable.  To  an  ignorant 
and  self-righteous  people,  the  idea  of  a  pilgrimage  is  extremely 
fascinating,  and  the  subtle  priest  is  not  slow  to  turn  this  principle 
of  human  nature  to  his  own  account.  There  is  scarcely  a  feature 
in  the  Hindoo  religion  which  exhibits  more  Brahminical  duplicity, 
or  more  popular  credulity  and  infatuation,  than  the  practice  of 
pilgrimage.  Not  content  with  the  heavy  burdens  which  he  has 
imposed  on  the  people,  in  the  observance  of  so  many  holy  days, 
and  in  the  endless  train  of  ceremonies  at  births,  marriages,  and 
funerals,  Satan  has  devised  the  still  more  expensive  and  ruinous 
practice  of  pilgrimage.  For  the  sake  of  an  illustration,  I  will 
suppose  a  case,  similar  to  which  some  thousands,  doubtless,  occur 
in  India  every  year. 

A  family,  consisting  of  a  father  and  mother,  two  aged  grand- 
parents, and  seven  children,  live  in  a  country  village  near  Bom- 
bay. From  year  to  year,  they  have  cultivated  their  rice-fields, 
labored  hard,  and  lived  in  comparative  comfort.  But  instigated 
by  some  Brahmun,  who,  perhaps,  had  no  other  design  than  to 
secure  a  fee  for  consulting  the  stars,  to  determine  an  auspicious 
day  for  starting,  the  father  begins  to  talk  of  a  pilgrimage  to 
Kashee  (Benares).  All  take  fire  at  the  happy  thought.  Their 
neighbors  applaud  or  envy;  the  children  are  pleased  with  the 
novelty  of  the  adventure ;  the  father  sees  himself  returned  from 
Kashee,  a  saint  receiving  the  prostrations  of  his  neighbors ;  the 
mother  participates  in  the  common  joy,  and  only  looks  sad  and 
frets,  when  told  that  she  must  remain  behind ;  and  the  aged  pair 
bless  the  gods  that  their  days  may  terminate  so  happily.  They 
hope  to  behold  the  holy  city,  to  bathe  in  the  sacred  river,  and  die 
on  its  banks.  The  farm  is  mortgaged ;  the  oxen  and  only  cow 
are  sold;  a  pittance  of  money  is  collected,  at  the  expense  of  the 
family ;  a  tattoo  (small  horse)  is  purchased,  and  the  necessary  ac- 
18 


274  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

companiments  for  the  journey;  an  auspicious  day  is  fixed  by  the 
Brahmun,  the  due  ceremonies  performed,  and  the  father,  grand- 
parents, two  sons,  and  a  daughter  leave  their  comfortable  home, 
and  commence  a  journey  of  three  months  to  Benares,  at  the  rate 
of  ten  miles  a  day.  One  bears  before  the  little  company  a  flag 
of  reddish  orange  color,  suspended  on  a  bamboo ;  another  carries 
a  tomtom,  or  some  rude  instrument  of  music ;  the  decrepit  old 
man  hobbles  on  with  his  staff,  scarcely  able  to  bear  his  own  bur- 
den ;  the  old  woman  is  seen  riding  astride  the  tattoo,  on  whose 
back  is  first  placed  a  broad  pack-saddle,  then  a  bag  containing 
the  food  and  household  furniture  of  the  company,  and  over  this 
the  beds,  or  rather  mats,  of  the  whole  family.  Each  person  car- 
ries a  bundle,  containing  his  clothes,  cooking-pot,  hooker  and 
tobacco. 

Thus  accoutred,  they  are  soon  recognized  as  pilgrims,  and  join- 
ed by  other  companies,  who  are  traveling  the  same  way,  and  for 
the  same  purpose.  Unskilled  in  the  dark  wiles  of  older  pilgrims 
and  mendicants,  they  hail  them  as  companions  of  the  road,  and 
congratulate  themselves  on  so  auspicious  an  event.  One  band 
after  another  join  them,  till  they  amount  to  a  caravan  of  some 
hundreds.  Among  these  are  some  of  the  most  arch  villains 
which  India  aftbrds.  They  are  clad  in  the  habit  of  devotees ; 
their  oily  hair  is  sprinkled  with  ashes,  and  their  faces  and  part 
of  the  body  covered  with  the  sacred  red  powder.  Their  lips 
drop  honey,  but  gall  is  in  their  hearts.  Our  pilgrims  only  dream 
of  the  happy  consummation  of  their  wishes,  and  look  to  their 
saintly  companions  as  their  guides  and  protectors.  They  hoist 
more  flags,  beat  louder  the  tomtoms,  turn  aside  to  see  every  holy 
place,  and  to  worship  every  strange  god  on  the  road;  go  on 
merrily  during  the  day,  carouse,  dance,  tell  stories,  and  sing 
bawdy  songs  in  the  evening ;  and  at  night  herd  together,  men 
and  women,  married  and  unmarried,  shameless  as  so  many  cattle. 
Any  restraints  of  delicacy  which  might  once  have  existed  in  the 
young  female,  is  now  broken  down.  Not  a  month  has  elapsed, 
when  our  pilgrims  find  their  pittance  of  money  is  exhausted. 
The  ghostly  rogues  have  filched  away  their  last  pice.  But  they 


*  .*  -: 

____    ;;;. 

INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  275 

are  comforted  with  the  very  consolatory  assurance  that  these  pri- 
vations, to  which  they  must  now  be  subjected,  will  only  enhance 
the  merit  of  their  pilgrimage.  An  expedient  is  fixed  on  for  the 
supply  of  the  future  wants  of  the  caravan.  The  veneration 
which  they  feel  for  the  character  of  the  devotees,  and  the  meri- 
torious end  which  they  propose,  quiet  all  misgivings  as  to  the 
means  to  be  employed.  Hence  they  sometmes  beg,  as  poor  and 
pious  pilgrims ;  and  sometimes  assuming  a  more  hostile  appear- 
ance, they  enter  a  village,  in  a  body,  and  demand  whatever  they 
require.  One  beats  his  breast  with  his  fist,  or  cuts  his  flesh  with 
a  knife,  to  terrify  the  poor  villagers  by  his  streaming  blood. 
Another  threatens  to  cut  his  throat,  or  to  beat  out  his  own  brains, 
invoking  vengeance  on  the  man  who  refuses  to  comply  with  his 
demands.  The  poor,  superstitious  creature  believes,  should  he 
suffer  the  devotee  to  kill  himself,  that  he  should  not  only  be  ac- 
countable for  the  shedding  of  blood,  but  the  spirit  of  the  devotee 
would  haunt  and  torment  him  all  his  life. 

The  company  move  on,  sometimes  in  distress  for  bread,  in 
almost  a  continual  war  among  themselves,  and  often  times  are  as 
the  devouring  locust  to  the  villagers.  The  tattoo  becomes  lame, 
and  can  no  longer  carry  his  burden ;  the  old  man  is  sick,  and  the 
two  sons  now  become  so  inured  to  profligacy,  that  they  neither 
pity  nor  relieve  their  friends ;  I  need  not  say  what  the  daughter 
is.  But  a  new  disaster  awaits  them.  They  are  attacked  at  night 
by  a  band  of  marauders,  with  which  this  part  of  the  country  is 
always  infested.  Resistance  is  useless;  some  resist,  and  are 
maimed  or  killed.  The  Bheels,  as  they  are  called,  pillage  their 
luggage,  take  their  cooking-pots,  drive  off  their  tattoos  and  bul- 
locks, and  strip  them  of  every  thing  which  is  worth  conveying 
away.  One  of  the  sons  is  killed,  and  the  father  maimed.  A  long 
lelay  follows,  during  which  every  possible  means  is  resorted  to 
for  the  recovery  or  the  replacing  of  the  lost  goods. 

Our  pilgrims,  reduced  to  a  state  of  abject  beggary,  now  pro- 
ceed. But  the  aged  pair  cannot  travel.  They  stop  in  a  wretched 
shed,  and  after  many  days  of  pain  and  suffering  for  the  bare 
necessaries  of  life,  the  grandmother  dies.  Then  follows  a  tumult 


276  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

about  her  burial.  The  villagers  refuse  to  bury  her  without  a  re- 
ward, and  they  will  not  believe  the  sou  has  no  money.  The  Pa- 
riahs (men  of  very  low  caste,  who  are  obliged  to  clear  away 
nuisances,)  are  at  length  forced  to  take  her  away.  They  again 
join  the  caravan,  and,  after  a  journey  of  more  than  five  months, 
they  arrive  in  sight  of  the  holy  city.  Their  countenances  light 
up  with  joy  as  they  behold  the  lofty  spires  of  the  temples,  and 
see  multitude  after  multitude  descend  the  sacred  steps  into  the 
Ganges.  They  follow  on,  and  bathe  in  the  holy  stream.  But, 
alas !  what  are  they  to  do  !  They  have  no  money,  and  no  one 
cares  for  them.  They  cannot  even  get  a  shed  where  they  can 
place  the  poor  decrepit  old  man,  or  find  a  night's  repose.  The 
holy  Brahmuns  of  the  far-famed  Kashee,  from  whose  very  touch 
they  thought  to  derive  holiness,  will  not  look  at  them.  They 
have  no  money.  The  father  in  sullen  silence  says,  "It  is  fate." 
The  daughter  is  decoyed  away  by  a  young  Brahmun,  and  is  seen 
no  more.  The  father  says,  "  It  is  fate."  The  ungovernable  son  has 
scarcely  seen  his  father  since  their  arrival,  and  now  he  has  joined 
a  band  of  strolling  players,  and  gone  to  Calcutta.  The  father 
says,  "  It  is  fate,"  and  nothing  can  be  done.  The  enfeebled  old 
man  fast  declines,  and  will  soon  finish  a  miserable  existence.  His 
son  becomes  impatient,  and  determines  to  return  to  his  once  com- 
fortable home.  The  old  man  cannot  move,  and  begs  his  son  not 
to  forsake  him,  or  to  force  him  away.  He  entreats  that  he  may 
be  allowed  to  die  in  sight  of  the  sacred  river.  A  council  is  called, 
and  it  is  determined  that  the  old  man  be  carried  to  the  river,  be 
bathed  in  the  holy  water,  then  laid  on  the  bank  and  have  his 
mouth,  nose  and  ears  filled  with  mud,  and  be  left  there  to  die. 
The  advice  is  followed,  and  the  miserable  son  now  sets  his  face 
towards  home,  with  no  other  consolation  than  that  he  has  per- 
formed a  meritorious  act  in  helping  his  fathar  to  die  by  the  Gan- 
ges. Dying  here  is  considered  by  the  Hindoo  one  of  the  greatest 
blessings  he  can  enjoy.  Of  our  pilgrim  family,  the  father  only 
returns.  He  subsists  on  his  way  by  begging ;  and,  after  an  ab- 
sence of  ten  months,  arrives  at  his  former  dwelling.  But  how 
changed !  Strangers  occupy  it.  His  wife  had  been  unable  to 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  277 

cultivate  the  farm;  two  of  his  children  had  sickened  and  died; 
and  after  struggling  with  poverty  and  sufferings  a  few  months, 
she  eloped  with  a  stranger,  and  no  other  account  could  be  heard, 
but  that  she  had  "  gone  beyond  the  Ghauts." 

Such,  in  its  general  features,  may  be  taken  as  a  specimen  of 
the  incalculable  misery  inflicted  on  the  Hindoos  by  long  pilgrim- 
ages. If  the  distance  be  short,  the  results  are  consequently  less 
disastrous.  They  who  have  read  the  disgusting  accounts  of  pil- 
grimages to  Jugunath,  "  of  the  roads  for  fifty  miles  being  marked 
by  the  skulls  of  those  who  have  perished  on  the  way,"  and  of 
the  thousands  who  are  left  to  die  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges, 
and  they  who  will  take  the  pains  to  calculate  what  must  be  the 
probable  consequences  of  a  company  of  people,  both  poor  and 
unprincipled,  leaving  their  houses  for  nearly  a  year,  traveling 
across  the  country,  and  visiting  the  central  points  of  iniquity  in 
India,  will  not  think  the  picture  which  I  have  drawn  to  exceed 
the  original.  The  same  may  be  said  of  a  man  who  has  made  a 
pilgrimage  to  Benares  as  is  said  of  a  pilgrim  from  Mecca :  "  Never 
believe  a  man  who  has  been  to  Mecca  once ;  if  he  has  been  twice, 
look  out  for  your  pockets;  if  three  times,  look  out  for  your 
throat," 

The  principal  holy  places  in  India  are  Benares,  Hurdwar,  Jugu- 
nath, and  Rameshwur.  These  are  places  of  general  celebrity. 
People  from  all  parts  of  the  country  resort  thither ;  and  I  know 
not  that  the  people  of  one  part  of  India  regard  them  as  more 
sacred  than  the  people  of  the  opposite  part  do.  There  are  a 
great  number  of  other  places  which  are  held  in  high  estimation, 
in  certain  natural  divisions  of  the  country,  as  Pundurpoor  and 
Trimbuck,  in  the  Deckan ;  and  there  are  a  still  greater  number 
which  are  held  as  very  sacred  by  the  people  of  the  neighborhood, 
but  are  little  known  abroad.  I  shall  here  confine  myself  to  the 
sacred  places  in  the  Deckan ;  and  of  these  I  shall  not  speak  par- 
ticularly of  any  except  those  I  have  visited.  Pundurpoor,  Trim- 
buck,  lassie,  Jejury,  Toka,  Pyton,  and  Mahableshwur,  are 
the  principal.  Wazree  Baee,  in  the  Northern  Concon,  is  a  place 
of  much  resort. 


278  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

I  visited  Pundurpoor  in  the  year  1834.  This  may  be  regarded 
as  the  grand  emporium  of  Satan's  dominion  in  the  Deckan. 
People  from  all  quarters  are  constantly  crowding  to  this  place, 
to  worship  the  renowned  Yithoba,  who  is  said  to  be  the  same 
with  Kirshna.  Pundurpoor  is  his  residence.  The  image  of  this 
god  is  the  object  of  the  pilgrimage.  By  what  means  he  has  ac- 
quired so  much  celebrity,  is  difficult  to  say ;  though  it  cannot  be 
doubted  that  it  has  been  brought  about  by  the  dexterous  man- 
agement of  those  interested.  The  proprietors  of  the  temple  are 
now  said  to  amount  to  two  hundred  Brahminical  families.  Won- 
derful stories  are  of  course  told  of  the  miracles  which  have  been 
performed  by  Vithoba,  at  this  place.  No  pains  are  spared  to  keep 
up  the  sancity  of  the  temple.  For  this  purpose  a  book  is  kept 
in  circulation  at  Pundurpoor,  which  contains  the  astonishing 
feats  of  the  god.  The  image  is  said,  at  certain  times,  to  move ; 
has  been  heard  to  speak,  and,  in  case  of  danger,  to  assume  a 
menacing  attitude,  and  to  frighten  off  an  enemy.  A  story  is  told, 
and  believed,  of  course,  by  all  who  hear  it — (for  there  is  nothing 
except  the  truth  which  the  Hindoo  will  not  believe,  however  ab- 
surd it  may  be) — a  story  is  told  that,  at  some  former  period,  a 
company  of  Moguls,  when  making  conquests  in  the  Deckan, 
came  to  Pundurpoor,  in  order  to  violate  the  temple,  and  destroy 
the  idol.  But  on  approaching  the  god,  and  looking  him  in  the 
face,  they  were  awed  at  his  visage.  He  began  to  assume  the 
most  terrific  appearance.  The  sturdy  Moguls  were  affrighted. 
The  vital  fluid  congealed  in  their  veins ;  their  joints  trembled ; 
their  knees  smote  together ;  they  became  as  dead  men,  and  were 
happy  to  make  their  retreat,  and  never  afterwards  attempted  to 
disturb  the  great  and  terrible  Vithoba. 

In  this  way  the  character  of  the  god  is  supported.  And  in  a 
similar  way  the  reputation  of  holy  places  is  sustained.  The  ob- 
jects of  this  deception  are  pride,  avarice,  and  licentiousness. 
There  are  connected  with  the  temple  a  great  number  of  Brah- 
muns,  besides  the  owners  of  it,  who  derive  their  subsistence,  as 
well  as  gratify  their  pride  and  their  passions,  by  means  of  the 
revenue  of  the  temple.  There  are  also  connected  with  ail  these 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  279 

large  establishments,  a  great  number  of  prostitutes  and  servants. 
All  these  are  interested  to  keep  up  the  reputation  of  their  re- 
spective temples  abroad,  and  to  draw  thither  pilgrims.  The 
prosperity  of  the  several  parts  of  the  establishment  depend  very 
much  on  the  presence  and  on  the  money  of  strangers.  No 
European  eye  may  penetrate  into  the  interior  of  these  haunts  of 
vice.  He  may  not  so  much  as  see  the  image  of  the  god.  I  was 
permitted  to  see,  from  the  top  of  a  neighboring  building,  some 
parts  of  the  inside  of  the  temple  at  Pundurpoor,  but  could  not 
look  into  the  most  holy  place,  where  sits  the  god.  Nor  are  Hin- 
doos of  low  caste  ever  permitted  to  enter  the  temple,  or  to  see 
the  object  of  their  adoration.  They  worship  without,  and  de- 
posit an  offering  of  money  at  the  foot  of  the  steps  which  lead  up 
to  the  outer  gate.  I  am  unable,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  to 
state  what  are  the  profits  of  the  establishment  to  its  proprietors, 
or  by  what  means  the  whole  revenue  is  obtained.  I  am  aware, 
however,  of  two  sources  from  which  a  large  income  is  doubtless 
realized  annually.  Every  pilgrim  is  required  to  bathe  at  a  cer- 
tain spot ;  for  which  privilege  he  pays  a  specified  sum.  And  he 
is  also  required  to  make  an  offering  of  money,  food,  and  the  like, 
at  the  temple.  If  we  may  judge,  on  this  subject,  from  the  im- 
mense multitudes  of  people  who  flock  to  this  place  from  all  parts 
of  the  country,  from  the  well-known  avarice  and  duplicity  of 
those  whose  interest  it  is  to  impose  on  the  pilgrims,  and  from 
the  credulity  of  those  who  resort  to  such  places,  we  may  infer, 
without  much  apprehension  of  belying  the  parties,  that  the  poor 
pilgrims  in  general  are  not  likely  to  have  the  happiness  of  being 
told  that  the  measure  of  their  righteousness  is  full,  till  their 
whole  stock  of  money  is  expended ;  and  hence  a  great  amount 
must  be  received  by  the  Brahmuns  who  keep  up  the  establish- 
ment. 

Pilgrimages  are  made  to  Pundurpoor  at  all  seasons  of  the  year ; 
yet  there  is  a  particular  season  when  they  are  regarded  as  pecu- 
liarly efficacious,  and  all  who  can,  visit  the  place  at  this  time. 
Pundurpoor  is  still  a  prosperous  town,  though  much  inferior  to 
what  it  once  was.  Formerly,  it  was  a  favorite  residence  of  the 


280  INDIA   AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

Peshwa,  and  of  the  principal  personages  of  the  Mahratha  court. 
Its  very  dust  is  accounted  holy.  As  I  was  approaching  at  some 
miles  distant,  a  pilgrim,  who  was  returning,  to  show  the  com- 
placency which  he  felt  at  my  inquiries  about  Puudurpoor,  offered 
me  some  of  its  holy  dust.  He  doubtless  supposed  this  would  be 
very  gratifying  to  me.  The  Brahmuns  assert  that  the  lands 
about  it  are  so  holy,  that  no  grain  will  grow  on  them,  and  that 
they  produce  nothing  but  a  consecrated  shrub.  Here  is  an 
enormous  car  for  the  god  Vithoba,  in  which  he  is  seated  an- 
nually, and  drawn  by  men  through  the  streets  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  Jugunath  is,  on  the  other  side  of  India.  The  car  is  thirty 
feet  high,  twelve  square,  and  consists  of  three  stories. 

Jejury  ie  also  a  holy  place  of  much  celebrity,  twenty-four 
miles  south  of  Poona.  This  is  a  very  rich  establishment,  and, 
if  possible,  surpasses  Pundurpoor  as  a  haunt  of  vice.  The 
temple,  which  is  dedicated  to  Khundoba,  (an  incarnation  of 
Shiva,)  has  an  income  of  60,000  rupees  ($30,000)  annually.  And 
what  is .  particularly  disgraceful  to  Christianity,  two-thirds  of 
this  immense  revenue  is  derived  from  the  British  Government ; 
not  directly,  I  believe,  like  the  sums  which  are  actually  paid  out 
of  the  government  treasury  for  the  support  of  some  other 
temples  which  I  shall  hereafter  mention,  but  by  means  of  the 
rents  of  houses  and  lands,  which  are  allowed  to  be  appropriated 
to  this  purpose.  The  god  has  horses  and  elephants  kept  for 
him ;  and  he,  with  his  reputed  spouse,  is  daily  bathed  in  rose 
and  Ganges  water.  The  latter  is  brought  over  land,  a  distance  of 
more  than  a  thousand  miles.  They  are  also  perfumed  with  the 
otto  of  roses,  and  decorated  with  gems.  It  is  said  there  are  at 
present  a  hundred  male  and  two  hundred  female  prostitutes 
here.  It  is  stated,  on  good  authority,  that  there  were  attached 
to  this  temple,  in  1792,  "two  hundred  and  fifty  dancing-girls," 
who  are  of  the  last  mentioned  class,  "  and  Brahmuns  and  beggars 
innumerable."  The  dancing-girls  are  probably  not  a  source  of 
expense,  but  of  revenue  to  the  establishment.  The  two  hundred 
females  above  mentioned,  are  called  the  wives  of  the  god.  Mothers 
devote  their  daughters  to  the  god  from  their  infancy,  and  when 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

the  girls  arrive  at  a  marriageable  age,  they  are  wedded  to  the 
deity,  and  afterwards  reside  at  the  temple  and  live  for  the  god, 
and  may  not  marry  a  mortal.  What  say  you,  Christian  parents, 
to  this  ?  Is  it  hard,  is  it  wrong,  is  it  too  much  that  your  God 
has  required  that  you  set  apart  your  children  to  his  service? 
Heathen  parents  have  set  you  an  example. 

The  temple  at  Jejury  has  a  magnificent  appearance  from  a 
distance,  as  you  look  over  the  extended  plain  on  your  approach. 
It  is  built  of  fine  stone,  and  situated  on  a  high  hill  in  a  beautiful 
country.  The  access  is  from  the  ^  north,  by  broad  flights  of  stone 
steps,  which  are  illuminated  of  a  night  by  lamps  attached  to 
stone  pillars,  and  forming  rude  chandeliers.  There  is  almost  a 
continuous  row  of  beggars  seated  on  each  side  of  the  steps. 
These  have  congregated  here  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  for 
the  double  purpose  of  being  at  a  holy  place,  and  of  begging 
from  the  numerous  pilgrims.  Some  of  them  are  really  objects 
of  charity,  and  tolerably  modest  in  their  applications ;  others  are 
sturdy  beggars,  and  impudent  beyond  endurance.  The  whole 
summit  of  the  hill,  consisting  of  an  acre  or  two  of  ground,  is 
covered  with  the  temple  and  its  buildings.  In  front  of  the 
temple  is  a  favorite  spot,  among  the  Mahrathas,  for  performing 
the  ceremony  of  swinging.  The  post  is  kept  constantly  stand- 
ing. I  had  scarcely  entered  the  temple,  when  I  was  assailed  by 
the  Brahmuns  on  all  sides  for  presents  in  behalf  of  the  god ;  and 
I  am  sorry  to  add,  that  they  adduced  the  example  of  Europeans, 
as  a  principal  argument  why  I  should  give  them  money.  When 
will  Christians  cease  to  abet  and  support  idolatry  ? 

Nassic  and  Trimbuck-eshwur  are  two  holy  places  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  each  other,  and  about  ninety  miles  north  of  Poona.  las- 
sie is  famous  as  the  seat  of  Brahminical  learning  in  the  west  of 
India,  and  perhaps  in  no  place  this  side  of  Benares  are  the  Brah- 
muns so  haughty  and  impudent,  or  so  much  opposed  to  the  in- 
troduction of  Christianity.  It  is  a  place  of  pilgrimage  for  the 
people  of  a  large  extent  of  country.  A  great  pilgrimage  occurs 
here  once  in  twelve  years,  when  the  concourse  of  people  is  enor- 
mous. The  cholera,  which  is  almost  a  constant  attendant  on 

~  •  ** 


282  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

such  occasions,  generally  breaks  out  among  the  wretched  multi- 
tude who  assemble  at  this  place,  and  sweeps  off,  as  with  the 
besom  of  destruction,  thousands,  and  sometimes  tens  of  thous- 
ands, of  these  deluded  pilgrims.  It  may  seem  strange,  and 
strange  indeed  it  is,  that  so  marked  a  judgment  as  this  does  not 
arrest  their  attention,  and  lead  them  to  search  for  the  cause. 
But  neither  judgments  nor  mercies  seem  to  have  any  such  in- 
fluence among  the  Hindoos. 

The  following  anecdote  will  show  to  what  vile  subterfuges  the 
Brahmuns  will  resort,  rather  .than  acknowledge,  or  allow  the 
people  to  acknowledge,  the  hand  of  God  either  in  his  blessings  or 
in  his  chastisements.  In  the  year  1826,  the  Rev.  Gordon  Hall 
visited  Nassic,  at  the  time  of  the  last  great  pilgrimage.  He 
preached  the  Gospel  to  multitudes,  and  distributed  a  great  num- 
ber of  tracts  and  portions  of  the  Scriptures.  The  concourse  of 
people  on  this  occasion  was  innumerable.  Every  house  was 
filled,  every  temple  and  shed  occupied,  and  every  street  crowded. 
Thousands  could  find  no  shelter.  They  were  exposed  to  the 
heat  by  day,  and  to  the  chilling  air  by  night.  Such  a  multitude, 
badly  fed,  badly  housed,  and  naturally  filthy,  but  now  from  ne- 
cessity ten  times  more  so,  afforded  the  proper  materials  for  the 
raging  of  the  cholera.  It  commenced  its  havoc,  and  before  Mr. 
Hall  left  the  place,  multitudes  were  swept  off  daily.  But  how 
did  it  affect  this  deluded  people  ?  Did  they  not  see  the  hand  of 
Divine  displeasure  in  it  ?  No :  it  was  only  made  the  occasion  of 
blinding  their  eyes  and  hardening  their  hearts  still  more.  When 
the  people  cried — not  to  God,  but  to  the  Brahmuns — for  help, 
because  of  their  sore  affliction,  mark  the  wiles  of  Satan !  These 
subtle  priests,  in  the  same  quiet,  significant  way  by  which  they 
are  accustomed  to  accomplish  their  purposes,  inquired  if  there 
was  not  a  cause  which  had  brought  the  vindictive  demon  (as 
they  esteem  the  cholera)  among  them  at  that  time  —  if  there 
were  not  some  grievous  sin  among  them  which  had  displeased  the 
gods  ?  The  people  were  aware  of  no  such  cause.  "  Have  you 
not,"  continued  the  Brahmuns,  "  listened  to  a  man  of  another 
religion,  and  taken  books  from  him  ?"  This  was  enough.  The 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

cause  of  all  their  calamities  was  apparent,  and  they  only  needed 
to  be  told  what  they  should  do.  The  answer  was  ready :  "  Go," 
said  the  Brahmuns,  "  and  collect  all  those  books  and  burn  them." 
It  was  done,  and  after  a  few  days  the  plague  was  stayed.  That 
is,  the  time  of  the  pilgrimage  elapsed,  and  the  pilgrims  evacuat- 
ed the  place,  as  the  Brahmuns  foresaw  they  would.  The  fuel 
being  removed,  the  fire  was  extinguished. 

These  particulars  were  related  to  me  by  a  Brahmun  from 
!N"assic  about  a  year  ago.  He  did  not  know,  however,  that  the 
missionary  was  Mr.  Hall,  or  that  he  was  of  the  American  mis- 
sion. I  have  applied  the  anecdote  to  Mr.  H.  because  the  date 
agrees,  and  no  other  missionary  visited  Nassic  near  that  time. 

Trimbuck-eshwur  is  a  sacred  place  within  a  few  miles  of  Nas- 
sic.  The  two  places,  in  respect  to  pilgrimages,  may  be  regarded 
as  one.  Both  are  renowned  as  favorite  residences  of  Mahadeo 
(Shiva).  Trimbuck  (eshwur  is  but  a  suffix,  meaning  god)  de- 
rives its  sanctity  chiefly  from  its  location  at  the  source  of  the 
sacred  river  Godavery,  the  Ganges  of  the  Deckan.  Every  river 
of  any  magnitude  is  esteemed  sacred,  and  the  place  where  it 
rises  is  holy  ground.  There  is  also  at  Trimbuck  a  hill  which  is 
declared  to  be  the  very  head  of  Mahadeo.  It  has  been  asserted, 
and  of  course  believed,  that  if  any  one  should  dare  ascend  this 
hill,  he  would  instantly  "  be  reduced  to  ashes  "  by  the  fire  issuing 
from  the  head  of  the  deity.  This  has  proved  quite  enough  to 
secure  the  sanctity  of  the  spot.  The  spell  was,  however,  broken 

about  two  years  ago  by  Captain  S ,  deputy  surveyor-general 

of  the  Deckan.  He  visited  this  place  in  the  discharge  of  his 
official  duty,  and  ordered  his  flag-staff  to  be  erected  and  his  tent 
to  be  pitched  on  the  summit  of  this  hill.  Terrified  by  the  well 
known  predictions  of  the  Brahmuns,  his  servants  dared  not  obey 
the  order.  The  command  was  renewed,  and  the  men,  foreseeing 
the  displeasure  of  the  officer  in  case  of  disobedience,  said,  "  It  is 
our  fate,"  and  then  attempted  the  awful  ascent.  To  their  utter 
astonishment,  they  were,  in  a  few  moments,  at  the  top  of  the  hill, 

and  att  live  men.  Captain  S left  his  flag-staff  standing  ou 

the  hill,  as  a  memorial  of  his  triumph  over  an  inveterate  super- 


284  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

stition  of  the  Hindoos.  The  religious  establishment  at  Trim- 
buck  is  said  to  receive  from  government  6,000  rupees  annually. 

Toka  and  Pyton  are  towns  on  the  Godavery  river,  and  on  this 
account  are  regarded  sacred  places.  Pilgrimages  are  made  to 
these  places  by  the  people  of  their  vicinity.  Toka  is  a  very 
favorite  resort  for  Brahmuns;  it  being  a  town  which,  on  some 
former  occasion,  was  given  as  a  present  to  them.  Pyton  is  held 
sacred,  as  a  place  of  pilgrimage.  Mahableshwur  is  a  place  of 
resort  for  pilgrims.  It  is  sacred  to  Mahadeo,  and  is  also  the 
source  of  the  river  Krishna,  and  is  the  supposed  source  of  four 
other  rivers.  The  Krishna  is  said  to  issue  here  from  the  mouth 
of  a  cow.  This  is  true,  but  the  cow  is  of  stone.  There  are  a 
great  number  of  holy  places  of  minor  importance  in  western  In- 
dia, which  need  not  here  be  mentioned.  They  are  frequented  by 
neighboring  villagers,  but  are  little  known  abroad.  In  this  list  I 
might  enumerate  several  Mohammedan  tombs,  as  well  as  the 
monuments  over  the  graves  of  some  Englishmen,  which  are  wor- 
shiped by  the  Hindoos. 

I  cannot  close  this  chapter,  which  introduces  the  reader  so 
much  into  the  penetralia  of  Hindooism,  without  adverting  more 
particularly  to  the  means  which  are  adopted  to  keep  up  the  char- 
acter of  these  holy  places.  I  shall  here  introduce  a  few  extracts 
from  the  writings  of  the  Abbe  Dubois,  for  the  double  purpose  of 
confirming  what  I  have  already  said,  and  developing  the  arts  and 
expedients  to  which  the  priests  resort,  in  order  to  sustain  the 
sacred  character  of  these  places.  The  Abbe  may,  perhaps,  be 
quoted,  on  such  subjects,  with  more  confidence  than  any  writer 
on  Hindoo  customs  and  superstitions.  "While  I  have  full  confi- 
dence in  the  facts  which  he  states,  let  it  not  be  supposed  that  I 
admit  the  conclusion,  which,  in  one  of  his  late  works,  he  has 
drawn  from  his  premises.  He  knew  better  than  any  man  how 
corrupt  Hindooism  is,  and  how  vile  is  the  character  of  the  Hin- 
doos ;  and  hence  he  drew  the  conclusion  that  the  Hindoos  can 
not  be  converted.  This  we  cannot  for  a  moment  allow,  for  the 
power  is  of  God.  I  do  not,  however,  think  that  Dubois  did,  as 
he  is  accused,  altogether  lose  sight  of  the  Divine  influence  in  his 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  285 

views  of  the  conversion  of  India.  His  opinion  was  that  the  day 
of  deliverance  for  poor  India  has  gone  by ;  and  that,  on  account 
of  her  idolatries,  and  abominations,  and  grievous  rebellions 
against  God,  she  is  given  over  to  hardness  of  heart  and  blind- 
ness of  mind,  that  she  may  believe  a  lie. 

In  his  enumeration  of  the  various  methods  which  the  Brah- 
muns  and  other  interested  persons  adopt  to  sustain  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  temples  at  these  holy  places,  and,  in  consequence,  to 
support  the  sanctity  of  their  own  characters,  and  to  secure  their 
temporal  interests,  he  says : 

"  Next  to  the  sacrificers,  the  most  important  persons  about  the 
temple  are  the  dancing-girls,  who  call  themselves  deva-dasi,  ser- 
vants or  slaves  of  the  gods ;  but  they  are  known  to  the  public  by 
the  coarser  name  of  strumpets.  Their  profession,  indeed,  re- 
quires of  them  to  be  open  to  the  embraces  of  persons  of  all 
castes ;  and,  although  originally  they  appear  to  have  been  in- 
tended for  the  gratification  of  the  Brahmuns  only,  they  are  now 
obliged  to  extend  their  favors  to  all  who  solicit  them. 

"  Such  are  the  loose  females  who  are  consecrated  in  a  special 
manner  to  the  worship  of  the  gods  of  India.  Every  temple,  ac- 
cording to  its  size,  entertains  a  band  of  them  to  the  number  of 
eight,  twelve,  or  more.  The  service  they  perform,  consists  of 
dancing  and  singing.  The  first  they  execute  with  grace,  though 
with  lascivious  attitudes  and  motions.  Their  chanting  is  gener- 
ally confined  to  the  obscene  songs  which  relate  to  some  circum- 
stance or  other  of  the  licentious  lives  of  their  gods. 

"  They  perform  their  religious  duties  at  the  temple  to  which 
they  belong  twice  a  day,  morning  and  evening.  They  are  also 
obliged  to  assist  at  all  the  public  ceremonies,  which  they  enliven 
with  their  dance  and  merry  song.  As  soon  as  their  public  busi- 
ness is  over,  they  open  their  cells  of  infamy,  and  frequently  con- 
vert the  temple  itself  into  a  stew. 

"  They  are  bred  to  this  profligate  life  from  their  infancy.  They 
are  taken  from  any  caste,  and  are  frequently  of  respectable  birth. 
It  is  nothing  uncommon  to  hear  of  pregnant  women,  in  the  be- 
lief that  it  will  tend  to  their  happy  delivery,  making  a  vow,  with 


286  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

the  consent  of  their  husbands,  to  devote  the  child  then  in  the 
womb,  if  it  should  turn  out  a  girl,  to  the  service  of  the  pagoda. 
And,  in  doing  so,  they  imagine  they  are  performing  a  meritori- 
ous duty.  The  infamous  life  to  which  the  daughter  is  destined 
brings  no  disgrace  on  the  family. 

"  These  prostitutes  are  the  only  females  in  India  who  may 
learn  to  read,  to  sing  and  to  dance.  Such  accomplishments  be- 
long to  them  exclusively,  and  are,  for  that  reason,  held  by  the 
rest  of  the  sex  in  such  abhorrence,  that  every  virtuous  woman 
would  consider  the  mention  of  them  as  an  affront. 

"  These  performers  are  supported  out  of  the  revenues  of  the 
temple,  of  which  they  receive  a  considerable  share.  But  their 
dissolute  profession  is  still  more  productive.  In  order  to  stimu- 
late more  briskly  the  passion,  which  their  lewd  employment  is 
intended  to  gratify,  they  have  recourse  to  the  same  artifices  as 
are  used  by  persons  of  their  sex  and  calling  in  other  countries. 
Perfumes,  elegant  and  attractive  attire,  particularly  of  the  head, 
sweet-scented  flowers,  intertwined  with  exquisite  art  about  their 
beautiful  hair,  multitudes  of  ornamental  trinkets,  adapted  with 
infinite  taste  to  the  different  parts  of  the  body,  a  graceful  car- 
riage and  measured  step,  indicating  luxurious  delight :  such  are 
the  allurements  and  the  charms  which  these  enchanting  sirens 
display  to  accomplish  their  seductive  designs. 

"  From  infancy  they  are  instructed  in  the  various  modes  of 
kindling  the  fire  of  voluptuousness  in  the  coldest  hearts;  and 
they  well  know  how  to  vary  their  arts,  and  adapt  them  to  the 
particular  disposition  of  those  whom  they  wish  to  seduce." 

It  is  shocking  to  every  sense  of  modesty  to  look  at  the  figures 
which  are  carved  on  the  walls  of  the  temples  at  Ellora,  and  at 
several  other  places  which  I  have  visited.  The  arts  of  exciting 
the  passions  are  practiced  in  India,  if  we  may  judge  from  the 
representations  of  such  things  on  the  walls  of  their  temples,  to 
an  extent  inconceivable  to  any  person  of  decent  imagination. 

"  Another  contrivance  of  the  Brahmuns,  employed  with  no  less 
success,  consists  in  the  public  testimony  they  give  to  a  vast  num- 
ber of  pretended  miracles  wrought  by  the  god  of  their  temple, 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

in  favor  of  numerous  votaries,  who  have  shown  their  faith  in 
him,  and  hrought  him  abundant  offerings.  These  miracles 
comprehend  the  cure  of  all  sorts  of  disease ;  of  the  blind,  who 
have  regained  their  sight ;  the  lame,  who  have  recovered  their 
limbs ;  and  the  dead,  who  have  been  raised. 

"  But  the  miracle  which  takes  precedence  of  all  others,  and  is 
always  listened  to  with  the  highest  delight  and  admiration,  is  the 
fecundity  conferred  on  numbers  of  women  who  remained  in  a 
barren  state,  till  their  prayers  and  their  offerings  obtained  from 
their  divinity  the  gift  of  children.  We  have  seen  that  sterility 
in  India  is  accounted  a  curse,  and  that  a  childless  women  is 
always  despised. 

"  The  Hindoos  consider  a  man  to  be  rich  only  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  his  children.  However  numerous  a  man's  family 
may  be,  he  ceases  not  to  offer  up  prayers  for  its  increase.  A 
fruitful  wife  is  the  highest  blessing  in  the  eyes  of  a  Hindoo ;  and 
no  misery  can  be  compared  with  that  of  a  barren  bed.* 

"  The  children  become  useful  at  an  early  age.  At  five  or  six 
years  old  they  tend  the  smaller  animals.  Those  that  are  stouter, 
or  a  little  more  advanced,  take  care  of  the  cows  and  oxen ;  whilst 
the  adults  assist  their  fathers  in  agricultural  labor,  or  in  any  other 
way  in  which  they  can  afford  comfort  to  the  authors  of  their 
being. 

"  Superstition  has  a  powerful  influence  in  keeping  up  this  vehe- 
ment desire  of  having  children  which  prevails  among  the  Hin- 
doos ;  for,  according  to  their  maxims,  the  greatest  misery  that 
can  betide  any  man,  is  to  be  destitute  of  a  son,  or  a  grandson,  to 
take  charge  of  his  obsequies.  In  such  a  state  he  cannot  look  for 
a  happy  world  hereafter. 

"  In  pursuance  of  this  system,  we  see  their  barren  women  con- 
tinually running  from  temple  to  temple,  ruining  themselves  fre- 
quently by  the  extravagance  of  their  donations  to  obtain  from 
the  ruling  divinities  the  object  of  their  ardent  desires.  The 

*  It  is  a  maxim  with  the  superstitions  Hindooos,  that  he  whom  heaven  blesses 
With  a  son,  who  digs  a  tank,  and  plants  a  grove  of  fruit  trees,  has  discharged  his 
duty  in  this  world,  and  has  an  indisputable  right  to  eternal  happiness  hereafter. 


288  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

Brahmuns  have  turned  the  popular  credulity  on  this  point  to 
good  account ;  and  there  is  no  considerable  temple,  whose  resid- 
ing deity  does  no%  among  many  other  miracles,  excel  in  that  of 
curing  barrenness  in  women. 

"  There  are  some  temples,  however,  of  greater  celebrity  than 
others  in  this  way,  to  which  women  in  that  state  resort  in  pre- 
ference. Such  is  that  famous  one  of  Tirupati,  in  the  Carnatic, 
Sterile  women  frequent  it  in  crowds  to  obtain  children  from  the 
god  Vencata  Eamana,  who  presides  there.  On  their  arrival,  they 
apply,  first  of  all,  to  the  Brahmuns,  to  whom  they  disclose  the 
nature  of  their  pilgrimage  and  the  object  of  their  vows.  The 
Brahmuns  prescribe  to  the  credulous  women  to  pass  the  night  in 
the  temple,  in  expectation  that,  by  their  faith  and  piety,  the  resi- 
dent god  may  visit  them,  and  render  them  prolific.  In  the  silence 
and  darkness  of  the  night,  the  Brahmuns,  as  the  vicegerents  of 
the  god,  visit  the  women,  and  in  proper  time  disappear.  In  the 
morning,  after  due  inquiries,  they  congratulate  them  on  the  be- 
nignant reception  they  have  met  with  from  the  god ;  and,  upon 
receiving  the  gifts  which  they  have  brought,  take  leave  of  them, 
with  many  assurances  that  the  object  of  their  vows  will  speedily 
be  accomplished. 

"  The  women,  having  no  suspicion  of  the  roguery  of  the  Brah- 
muns, go  home  in  the  full  persuasion  that  they  have  had  inter- 
course with  the  divinity  of  the  temple,  and  that  the  god  who  has 
deigned  to  visit  them  must  have  removed  all  impediments  to 
their  breeding." 

There  are  a  few  other  facts  which  have  fallen  under  my  obser- 
vation still  more  illustrative  of  that  strange  propensity  of  the 
Hindoos  to  worship  strange  gods,  and,  at  the  same  time,  of  their 
indifference  about  what  they  worship.  As  I  was  on  a  tour  to 
the  east  of  Ahmednuggur,  I  saw  one  morning,  over  a  beautif al 
plain,  seven  miles  before  me,  a  temple  like  that  of  Jejury,  situated 
on  a  hill.  Its  appearance,  as  I  approached,  was  majestic.  My 
curiosity  was  of  course  excited  to  know  to  what  deity  this  fine 
structure  was  dedicated ;  and  I  was  told,  on  my  arrival  at  the 
village  (Merdee),  that  it  was  a  Hindoo  temple,  and  a  place  of 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  289 

great  sanctity,  to  which  the  people  of  the  surrounding  villages 
made  an  annual  pilgrimage.  In  the  course  of  the  day,  I  went 
into  the  temple,  and,  to  my  surprise,  I  found  it  to  be  nothing 
more  or  less  than  a  Mohammedan  tomb  over  a  Mohammedan 
saint.  There  was  neither  idol  nor  any  thing  to  indicate  it  to  be 
a  Hindoo  temple.  I  made  many  inquiries,  and  found  the  Hin- 
doos habitually  worshiped  at  this  tomb,  and  appeared  to  regard 
it  as  a  temple  of  their  own.  On  the  same  tour,  I  saw  another 
Mohammedan  tomb,  which  was  called  by  its  proper  name ;  and, 
notwithstanding,  it  was  made  a  place  of  pilgrimage  by  the  Hin- 
doos. On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  house  kept  in  Ahmednug- 
gur  by  a  Mussulman  woman,  where  the  people  of  her  religion 
meet  one  evening  in  the  week,  and  enjoy  festivities,  and  practice 
lewdness,  in  honor  of  a  Hindoo  god.  Amalgamations  of  this 
character  are  generally  on  the  part  of  the  Hindoos. 

I  have  not  disguised  the  disgraceful  fact,  that  these  haunts  of 
vice  and  pits  of  destruction,  called  holy  places,  are  abetted  by 
the  British  Government  in  India.  While  they  have  given  large 
sums  for  their  support,  without  which  many  of  them  could  not 
be  sustained,  they  have  imposed  a  tax  on  pilgrims,  and  from 
some  of  these  places  they  have  received,  in  return,  a  considera- 
ble revenue.  But,  to  the  honor  of  the  British  name,  this  un- 
righteous, cruel  system,  I  am  told,  is  soon  to  cease.  I  am  unable 
to  give  any  thing  like  an  entire  list  of  the  several  appropriations 
made  by  government  to  these  places.  One  establishment  in 
Poona  receives  25,000  rupees  per  annum ;  another,  3,600 ;  Trim- 
buck,  6,000;  Jejury,  40,000.  The  revenue  of  many  villages  goes 
to  support  the  temple  of  the  village. 
19 


290    v  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

CHAPTER    XX. 

Hindoo  Superstitions — Ceremonies — Omens — The  Treatment  of  Diseases — Eclipses. 

I  DO  not  promise  to  give  a  full  exposition  of  these  several  ex- 
tensive subjects  within  the  limits  which  may  be  allowed  to  a 
single  chapter.  There  is  scarcely  an  occurrence  in  life,  which, 
to  the  superstitious  Hindoo,  is  not  ominous  of  good  or  evil. 
There  is  scarcely  an  hour  in  the  day  when  he  is  not  bound  to 
the  performance  of  some  ceremony,  or  is  not  made  a  slave  to 
aome  superstition.  He  leaves  his  house  of  a  morning ;  but  if  he 
sees  a  bird  fly  in  the  wrong  direction,  or  meets  an  animal  of  ill 
omen,  or  first  sees  a  person  of  a  certain  caste,  or  any  object  be- 
tokening ill,  he  must  return,  and  relinquish  his  enterprise,  and 
perhaps  may  not  go  out  of  his  house  again  that  day.  I  shall  not 
attempt  to  enumerate  these  endless  observances,  as  I  have  not  a 
list  of  them  from  competent  native  authority.  It  is  enough  to 
say  here,  that  every  thing  has  a  "  sign  "  to  it.  I  shall  therefore 
content  myself  with  giving  a  few  specimens  of  the  general  sub- 
ject. 

The  cholera  morbus-is  regarded  by  the  Hindoos  as  a  malignant 
goddess,  whom  they  worship,  in  order  to  deprecate  her  anger. 
They  believe  that  this  goddess  wanders  to  and  fro,  up  and  down 
the  earth,  afflicting  the  people  in  one  part  of  the  earth,  and  then 
moving  off  to  another  place,  where  she  commences  the  same 
work  without  mercy  or  compassion.  In  order  to  propitiate  this 
malignant  demon,  the  people  make  her  offerings  of  rice,  ghee, 
flowers,  fruits,  and  the  like.  They  sacrifice  to  her  sheep,  goats, 
buffaloes  and  fowls.  I  witnessed  a  large  sacrifice  of  this  descrip- 
tion at  Ahmednuggur.  Two  or  three  buffaloes  were  sacrificed, 
several  sheep  and  goats,  and  a  great  number  of  fowls,  with  rice, 
ghee,  (clarified  butter,)  fruits,  flowers,  and  food  of  all  sorts,  as 
the  villagers  chose  to  bring.  A  temporary  altar  had  been  erected 
in  the  open  field ;  and  this  was  placed  before  a  rude  stone,  which 
was  tipped  with  red  paint,  and  dignified  with  the  name  of  the  god- 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  291 


.  dess  Zurree  Murree  (cholera  morbus).  The  goddess,  ornamented 
with  flowers,  was  placed  in  a  small  temple  which  had  been  con- 
structed of  bamboos,  and  was  covered  with  the  boughs  of  trees. 
I  did  not  happen  to  be  present  when  any  of  the  victims  were 
slain,  but  I  am  assured  by  those  who  have  witnessed  it,  that 
there  appears  a  striking  analogy  between  the  Hindoo  rites  of 
sacrificing,  and  those  prescribed  for  the  Israelites  in  the  writings 
of  Moses. 

Some  months  before  leaving  India,  I  happened  to  be  at  "Wyee, 
a  celebrated  Brahminical  place,  when  the  cholera  was  raging 
with  great  violence,  and  sweeping  off  large  numbers  of  the 
people  daily.  On  the  evening  of  my  arrival,  the  banks  of  the 
Krishna  river  were  illuminated  by  the  fires  of  the  funeral  piles 
of  those  who  had  died  that  day.  The  bodies  which  were  con- 
suming were  only  those  of  the  higher  castes.  The  lower  orders 
are  not  able  to  burn  their  dead,  on  account  of  the  expense  ;  and, 
consequently,  these  numerous  fires  only  indicated  the  daily  num- 
ber of  deaths  among  the  former  class.  The  others  are  quietly 
conveyed  away  to  the  banks  of  the  river,  or  to  the  side  of  some 
body  of  water,  where  they  are  buried.  Coflins  are  not  used  by 
any  class  of  natives.  The  dead  are  generally  carried  out  in  their 
ordinary  clothing,  painted  and  ornamented  with  flowers.  The 
body  is  by  some  castes  of  Hindoos  deposited  in  a  recumbent 
position,  and  by  others  in  a  sitting  posture  ;  and  it  is  supplied 
with  food  for  its  journey  to  the  eternal  world. 

The  Brahmuns  at  Wyee  had  begun  the  work  of  propitiation, 
as  they  generally  do,  after  the  pestilence  had  nearly  spent  its 
violence.  The  grand  sacrifice  occurred  the  next  day  after  my 
arrival.  About  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  seeing  a  large  con- 
course of  people  collected  about  a  temple,  near  the  river,  I  went 
towards  the  crowd.  When  at  a  considerable  distance,  I  was 
stopped  by  some  Brahmuns,  who  said  I  must  not  proceed,  as 
they  were  engaged  in  sacrificing;  and  the  offering  would  prove 
inefficacious  if  I  should  be  present.  I  asked  what  they 
were  offering  in  sacrifice,  but  they  would  not  tell  me.  Promis- 
ing not  to  disturb  them,  I  insisted  on  going  to  the  place,  and  pro- 


292  ETDIA  ASV   ITS   PEOPLE. 

ceeded  onward.  Seeing  me  determined  to  know  what  they  were 
doing,  a  Sepoy  took  hold  of  my  arm,  saying,  "  Sahib,  you  must 
not  go"  He  appeared  too  much  in  earnest  to  be  resisted,  and 
consequently  I  yielded,  but  not  till  I  had  approached  so  near 
as  to  see  a  large  heap  of  rice,  not  less  than  two  cart  loads,  placed 
before  the  temple  of  Zurree  Murree.  On  this  heap  of  rice  the 
people  were  throwing  meat  offerings  of  ghee,  oil,  cocoa-nut, 
flour,  and  the  like.  A  dark  volume  of  smoke  arose  near  the 
temple,  but  of  what  the  burnt  offering  consisted,  I  could  not 
discover.  The  great  earnestness  with  which  they  prevented  me 
from  witnessing  the  scene,  much  excited  my  suspicion  that  they 
might  be  making  an  offering,  which,  if  known,  would  have  in- 
volved themselves  in  difficulty  with  the  criminal  law.  I  saw 
very  plainly  that  they  were  prepared  to  use  violence,  if  other 
means  had  not  succeeded,  to  keep  me  at  a  distance  from  their 
rites.  I  conversed  with  several  Brahmuns  on  the  subject  of  the 
sacrifice,  but  could  get  no  satisfactory  account  of  it. 

The  demon  goddess  is  not  only  to  be  propitiated  by  sacrifices, 
but  various  other  means  are  used  to  induce  her  to  leave  a  place 
where  she  is  unsparingly  scattering  the  arrows  of  death.  In 
some  instances,  the  Brahmuns  have  been  known  to  presume  so 
far  on  the  credulity  of  the  people,  as  to  cause  a  large  car  to  be 
made,  for  the  purpose  of  conveying  the  vindictive  goddess  out 
of  their  village.  "Wooden  figures  of  horses  or  elephants  are  at- 
tached to  the  car,  and  when  the  goddess  is  seated  in  the  vehicle, 
in  compliance  with  the  petitions  of  the  Brahmuns,  by  whom  she  is 
made  propitious,  the  whole  is  drawn  away  by  the  villagers ;  and 
the  alarms  of  the  people,  which,  on  such  occasions,  are  dreadful, 
and,  no  doubt,  the  predisposing  cause  of  the  cholera,  are  from 
this  time  quieted,  and  the  pestilence  soon  abates.  It  should  be 
kept  in  mind,  that  such  measures  are  seldom,  if  ever,  resorted 
to,  till  the  cholera  has  raged  for  some  fifteen  or  twenty  days, 
about  the  usual  time  of  its  prevalence  in  one  place.  Should  a 
few  cases  occur  after  the  goddess  is  conducted  away,  a  very 
plausible  reason  is  at  hand:  the  parties  had  no  faith  in  the 
measures,  or  the  goddess  had  indulged  some  malignity  against 


IXDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

the  sufferers,  because  their  offerings  had  not  been  of  sufficient 
value,  or  they  had,  in  former  days,  neglected  the  Brahmuns, 
or  the  gods.  And  thus  the  whole  affair,  which  ought  to  be 
regarded  as  a  scourge  from  heaven,  is  turned  to  the  account 
of  an  avaricious  priesthood,  and  serves  only  to  rivet  the 
fetters  of  superstition  and  Brahminical  tyranny  on  an  igno- 
rant and  idolatrous  people.  Eeasons  are  frequently  assigned 
for  the  awful  visitations  of  the  Zurree  Murree ;  and  individu- 
als are  sometimes  made  to  suffer  severely,  as  having  provoked 
the  goddess  to  anger.  I  have,  in  another  article,  given  an  in- 
stance of  this.  In  1826,  she  poured  out  her  wrath  without 
mixture  on  the  inhabitants  of  Nassic,  on  account  of  their  hav- 
ing received  Christian  books  from  Mr.  Hall.  Sometimes  the 
prevalence  of  the  cholera  is  attributed  to  the  old  women,  and 
they  are  in  consequence  treated  in  the  most  cruel  manner. 
When  the  cholera  raged  in  Ahmednuggur,  as  I  have  before 
stated,  Babajee  was  branded  as  the  author  of  it;  and  the 
distress  which  was  experienced  there  by  all  classes,  on  account 
of  the  failure  of  the  annual  rain,  was  attributed  to  the  establish- 
ment of  our  mission.  Before  missionaries  came  among  them, 
they  said,  they  had  rain,  and  fruitful  seasons ;  but  now  they  were 
about  to  die  of  famine. 

Consistently  with  his  professed  belief,  a  Hindoo  cannot  take 
medicine  in  case  of  cholera.  The  only  way  for  him,  is  to  exor- 
cise the  demon.  This,  it  is  pretended,  may  be  done  by  the  mun- 
tru.  All  this  passes  very  well  in  their  theory,  but,  in  case  of  an 
attack,  most  natives  are  very  glad  to  get  Eupopean  medicine. 
The  cholera  is  by  no  means  the  only  disease  which  is  supposed 
to  be  the  effect  of  an  evil  spirit,  or  to  be  induced  by  some  ani- 
mal, or  other  object,  in  the  stomach,  or  in  the  part  affected.  Not 
long  since,  I  read  a  very  curious  Hindoo  book,  a  part  of  their 
shastra,  which  treats  of  diseases.  In  this,  every  disease  is  repre- 
sented as  possessed  of  a  bodily  form.  A  liver  complaint  is  caus- 
ed by  a  crab,  which  is  eating  the  liver.  A  cough  is  occasioned  by 
a  large  caterpillar,  which  has  taken  up  his  abode  in  the  throax ; 


294  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

a  tooth-ache  proceeds  from  the  gnawings  of  a  vindictive  little 
worm,  which  has  domiciled  himself  in  the  decaying  tooth.  If 
proof  be  wanting  of  the  latter,  the  native  will  most  proudly  pro- 
duce it;  and  all  the  wise  reasoning  of  western  sages  is  put  to 
the  blush.  A  person  with  the  tooth-ache  is  told  to  extract  the 
worm  by  smoking  a  certain  kind  of  seed.  An  inverted  earthen 
vessel  is  placed  in  a  shallow  basin  of  water,  and  a  hole  perforat- 
ed for  a  tube  at  the  top.  The  seed  is  put  on  a  heated  shovel,  and 
introduced  through  the  side  of  the  vessel  by  another  hole.  Let 
the  patient  inhale  the  smoke  through  the  tube  for  half  an  hour, 
or  till  the  pain  ceases,  allowing  the  saliva  to  fall  through  the 
tube  into  the  water  below.  On  examination,  it  will  be  found 
that  the  water  contains  the  worm  of  the  tooth ;  or,  if  the  case 
be  an  obstinate  one,  five,  ten  or  twenty  may  be  found.  Though 
often  assured  that  the  worm-like  appearance  is  but  the  germ  of 
the  seed,  which  almost  instantly  vegetates  by  means  of  the  heat 
and  water,  yet  nothing  will  persuade  the  native  that  these  are 
not  actually  worms-  from  the  tooth. 

The  natives  of  India,  Hindoos,  Mussulmans  and  others, 
have  a  very  singular  superstition  about  the  snake.  They  regard 
him,  when  found  about  the  house,  as  a  kind  of  guardian  deity. 
As  I  was  one  day  sitting  with  my  teacher,  a  great  outcry  was 
made  at  the  cook-room,  a  building  but  a  few  yards  from  the 
house.  "We  ran  to  ascertain  the  cause,  when  the  natives  pointed 
to  a  large  serpent  lying  over  the  cook-room  door,  with  his  head 
hanging  down.  All  were  at  first  eager  to  kill  him.  Clubs, 
sticks  and  stones  awaited  him  on  being  drawn  with  a  hook. 
He  was  partly  stupified  by  an  attempt  which  he  was  making  to 
swallow  a  huge  rat  which  he  had  just  caught,  and  he  promised 
to  fall  an  easy  prey;  when  in  an  instant  every  native  threw 
down  his  weapon  and  exclaimed,  "  This  is  the  lord  of  the  man- 
sion !  Don't  hurt  him,  don't  hurt  him !"  I  smiled  at  their  non- 
sense, and  cried  out  to  have  them  assist  in  destroying  the  reptile. 
But  it  was  of  no  use,  and  the  serpent  escaped.  I  was  anxious 
to  know  what  this  superstition  was,  and  whence  it  arose.  But  I 


THE   INDIAN   BOA. 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  295 

could  ascertain  nothing  more  than  this,  that  they  believed  the 
serpent  to  be  the  guardian  of  the  premises ;  and  should  they 
wound  him,  he  would  avenge  himself  on  them ;  and  should  they 
kill  him,  some  sad  calamity  would  ensue.  Whence  the  supersti- 
tion originated,  I  could  not  ascertain  with  any  certainty.  It 
may  arise  from  the  veneration  which  they  have  for  the  serpent 
on  account  of  his  being  the  support  of  the  world.  They  believe 
this  earth  rests  on  the  head  of  an  enormous  serpent.  An  earth- 
quake is  caused  by  his  moving  his  head. 

The  Hindoos  believe  that  if  they  look  at  the  moon  on  a  cer- 
tain day,  they  shall  be  instantly  struck  dead.  Nothing  of  course 
will  induce  a  man  to  raise  his  eyes  to  the  moon  on  this  day. 
The  common  people  are  acquainted  with  every  omen  and  sign 
prevalent  among  the  nations  of  the  "West,  and  many  others  seem 
peculiar  to  themselves. 

The  following  may  be  taken  as  specimens  of  ceremonies, 
which  may,  for  the  most  part,  be  classed  under  the  head  of  do- 
mestic duties  and  observances.  They  are  taken  from  a  transla- 
tion of  a  book  from  the  Sanskrit,  in  which  the  wise  sages  of 
India  hoped  to  have  locked  up  all  the  precious  arcana  of  their 
craft.  And  so  it  was  for  a  long  time.  But  in  this  degenerate 
age  of  Hiudooism,  when  every  thing  seems  to  be  going  wrong, 
when  men  are  found  departing  from  the  "  old  way,"  to  such  an 
alarming  degree  that  "  they  do  not  sleep  in  the  right  position," 
"  cleanse  their  teeth  with  the  branches  of  improper  trees,"  ."  call 
in  the  barber  on  an  improper  day,"  "  put  on  new  apparel  as  soon 
as  it  is  purchased,  without  waiting  for  two  or  three  revulsions  of 
the  earth," —  when  enormities  like  these  had  threatened  the  sta- 
bility of  their  ancient  fabric,  it  was  time  that  the  ordinances  of 
the  golden  age  should  be  promulgated  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  to 
remind  the  men  of  this  iron  age  of  that  "  glorious  period  when 
these  irregularities  were  unknown,  and  when  the  gods  came 
down  to  earth  and  talked  Sanskrit  familiarly  with  the  great 
sages  of  the  East."  Such  a  book  we  now  have,  published  in  the 
Bengalee  language. 


296  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

The  first  two  pages  contain  directions  for  cleaning  the  teeth 
The  Hindoos  use  neither  brush  nor  powder,  but  pluck  a  little 
twig  from  the  first  tree,  strip  it  of  its  leaves,  and  rub  the  teeth 
with  the  bruised  end.  This  must  be  done  at  a  specified  time, 
and  according  to  prescribed  rules.  "  He  who  cleans  his  teeth 
after  the  sun  has  risen,  why  does  he  worship  Vishnoo  ?"  "  Cleanse 
the  teeth  with  the  thumb  and  the  second  and  third  finger,  never 
with  the  first."  "  "When  no  twig  can  be  obtained,  or  on  forbid- 
den days,  cleanse  the  teeth  with  water  poured  twelve  times  from 
the  palm  of  the  hand  into  the  mouth."  "If  a  person  cleanse 
his  teeth  on  the  day  of  a  shraddhu,  or  of  fasting,  those  two 
actions  lose  their  reward."  "He  who  cleans  his  teeth  at  the 
middle  or  close  of  the  day,  the  gods  receive  not  his  flowers,  nor 
his  ancestors  the  water  he  offers  them."  "  He  who  cleans  his 
teeth  at  the  time  of  bathing,  the  gods  receive  not  his  sacrifice." 

The  following  are  regulations  on  the  subject  of  bathing  and 
washing :  "  Let  not  the  face  be  washed  looking  towards  the 
south  or  west,  for  fear  of  eternal  punishment."  "  Bathing  in 
the  morning,  and  clarified  butter  in  the  mouths  of  "Wyshakh, 
Kartik,  and  Magh,  destroy  the  greatest  sins."  "He  who  at  the 
time  of  bathing  rubs  his  body  with  his  hand,  or  with  any  thing 
besides  his  napkin,  is  as  though  he  touched  a  dog.  Let  him 
bathe  again."  Every  portion  of  the  body  of  a  Hindoo  is  the 
residence  of  some  god.  "  He  who  after  bathing  neglects  to  wash 
his  feet,  loses  a  year's  merit."  "  He  who  bathes  at  the  steps  used 
by  a  washerman,  is  as  though  he  killed  a  Brahmun."  Washer- 
men are  persons  of  low  caste.  "  He  who,  at  the  conjunction  call- 
ed Narayunee,  bathes  in  silence  in  the  Koorootaya  river,  raises 
thirty-three  millions  of  his  ancestors  to  eternal  bliss !" 

Rules  on  the  subject  of  cooking  and  eating :  "  If,  while  a 
Brahmun  is  cooking,  he  gives  fire  to  a  Shoodru,  the  whole  food 
is  polluted."  "  Eating  with  the  face  to  the  east,  insures  long  life ; 
with  it  to  the  south,  celebrity ;  to  the  west,  wealth ;  to  the  north, 
pecuniary  embarrassment."  "  If,  before  taking  of  food,  you  do 
not,  with  your  finger,  make  a  circular  water-mark  on  the  ground 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

to  contain  your  dish,  the  demons  will  devour  all  the  food."  "  If, 
at  the  time  of  eating,  the  water-pot  be  placed  on  the  left  hand, 
the  water  becomes  blood."  The  right  hand  is  holy,  the  left  un- 
holy ;  each  has  its  distinct  functions.  The  body,  from  the  naval 
upwards,  being  holy,  is  the  province  of  the  right  hand ;  the  rest 
of  the  body  being  unholy,  is  abandoned  to  the  left.  Then  fol- 
lows a  long  list  of  prohibited  dishes,  and  restrictions  on  certain 
kinds  of  food  on  particular  days.  "He  who,  on  Sunday,  eats 
meat,  fish,  honey,  rice,  gruel,  wood-apple,  or  ginger,  will  be 
childless  through  seven  transmigrations,  and  wretched  through 
every  succeeding  birth."  "  On  the  first  day  of  the  moon,  he 
who  eats  of  a  pumpkin,  becomes  indigent."  "  Ignorance  follows 
the  eating  of  cocoa-nut  on  the  eighth."  "It  is  sinful  to  eat 
beans  on  the  eleventh."  And  similar  restrictions  through  the 
month. 

"  Clothes  washed  in  a  shallow  pool,  or  by  a  woman,  or  by  a 
washerman,  or  hung  up  to  dry  with  the  two  ends  pointing  to  the 
south  and  west,  are  unholy.  He  who  puts  on  new  apparel  on 
Sunday,  becomes  poor ;  on  Monday,  is  afflicted  with  boils ;  on 
Tuesday,  is  subject  to  much  trouble ;  on  Wednesday,  will  possess 
means  of  purchasing  new  clothes;  on  Thursday,  will  become 
learned  and  wealthy ;  on  Friday,  will  become  happy ;  on  Satur- 
day, will  become  involved  in  trouble  and  disputes."  And  so  on, 
as  to  almost  every  action  in  life.  "  He  who  shaves  on  Sunday, 
becomes  miserable ;  on  Monday,  happy ;  on  Tuesday,  hastens  his 
own  death ;  on  "Wednesday,  accumulates  wealth ;  on  Thursday, 
becomes  dishonorable ;  on  Friday,  childless ;  on  Saturday,  brings 
on  his  head  every  misfortune." 

"When  any  one  stumbles,  let  him  who  sees  him  exclaim, 
Rise  I  rise !  When  one  sneezes,  let  the  spectator  say,  Live !  live ! 
When  a  man  yawns,  let  him  and  those  around  him  snap  their 
fingers."  "To  sneeze  when  one  is  about  to  sit  down,  or  lie 
down,  or  about  to  eat,  or  is  dressing,  or  bestowing  gifts,  or  is  en- 
gaged in  a  dispute,  or  in  a  wedding,  is  highly  inauspicious." 
"  The  earth  trembles  if  it  be  plowed  on  the  day  of  the  new 


298  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

moon,  or  the  full  moon,  or  on  the  day  of  a  Shraddhu,  and  during 
five  particular  days  of  Assar."  "He  who  rides  to  a  place  of 
sanctity,  loses  one  half  of  his  merit ;  he  who  carries  an  umbrella 
over  his  head,  or  uses  shoes,  loses  one-fourth  of  his  merit,"  &c. 
As  to  the  reasons  of  these,  and  ten  thousand  like  rules  and  ob- 
servances, I  know  nothing.  They  are,  doubtless,  irrevocably 
buried  beneath  the  vail  of  oblivion  which  shuts  out  from  human 
ken  the  profound  wisdom  and  holy  illumination  which  is  said  to 
have  adorned  the  Brahminical  priesthood  in  the  "  golden  age " 
of  Hindoostan. 

Rules  relative  to  ceremonial  impurity  are  as  minute  as  they 
are  puerile  and  absurd.  On  the  death  of  a  relative,  a  Brahmun 
is  unclean  ten  days,  and  a  Shoodru  thirty.  This  extends  to  the 
sixth  degree  of  consanguinity.  On  the  birth  of  a  son,  the 
mother  is  unclean  twenty  days ;  of  a  daughter,  thirty.  This  im- 
purity extends  also  to  all  the  relatives,  to  the  sixth  degree  of  re- 
lationship. "  When  a  Brahmun  follows  the  corpse  of  another 
Brahmun  of  different  kindred,  he  must  purify  himself  by  bath- 
ing, touching  fire,  and  eating  clarified  butter.  If  the  corpse  be- 
long to  one  of  the  military  tribe,  the  Brahmun  who  follows  is 
unclean  one  day,"  &c.  "  If  the  smoke  of  a  funeral  pile  blows  on 
any  one,  he  must  purify  himself  by  bathing.  He  who  weeps  for 
another  becomes  unclean."  "The  day  on  which  the  finger  is 
cut,  or  a  drop  of  blood  shed,  the  individual  becomes  unclean,  and 
can  perform  no  religious  duty ;  if  blood  drop  from  the  tooth, 
the  most  essential  services  of  religion  are  suspended.  After 
tonsure,  weeping,  touching  what  is  forbidden,  or  vomiting,  a  man 
must  purify  himself  by  bathing."  "He  who  has  lost  caste,  a 
chundalu,  (low  caste,)  a  fool,  one  not  perfectly  sane,  a  midwife,  a 
woman  for  a  month  after  accouchment,  a  village  hog,  a  fowl,  a 
dog,  or  an  undertaker,  are  never  to  be  touched." 

The  Hindoos  use  the  rosary  in  the  same  way  as  the  Moham- 
medans and  the  Catholics  do.  The  custom  is  doubtless  brought 
from  the  East.  Nearly  every  devotee  carries  a  long  string  of 
beads.  They  are  not  only  carried  in  the  hand,  and  used  as  a 
rosary,  but  they  are  worn  on  the  arms,  the  neck,  or  the  body,  as 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

amulets.  I  have  seen  devotees  nearly  covered  with  strings  of 
beads.  The  Hindoo  rosary  consists  of  a  hundred  and  eight 
beads ;  the  Mohammedan,  of  a  hundred  and  one. 
:  The  natives  of  India  have  a  very  extraordinary  superstition 
regarding  a  person  about  to  be  executed.  They  believe  he  im- 
parts a  sanctity  to  every  thing  he  touches.  For  this  reason  he 
throws  flowers,  fruits,  and  spices  to  the  crowd  about  the  gibbet, 
who  catch  the  dying  boon  as  eagerly  as  the  friends  of  the  good 
old  saint  hang  on  his  lips  in  a  dying  hour,  and  catch  the  last 
accents  of  his  expiring  breath.  But  the  comparison  seems  al- 
most profane.  I  should  have  doubted  whether  a  superstition  so 
abhorrent  to  every  better  feeling  of  human  nature,  and  so  sub- 
versive of  all  right  and  justice,  could  have  existed,  had  I  not  the 
most  indisputable  evidence  of  the  fact.  What  I  am  about  to 
relate  transpired  in  Jalna,  a  large  town,  not  above  a  hundred 
miles  from  Ahmednuggur.  I  visited  the  place,  where  the  culprit 
was  executed  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1834,  about  fifteen 
months  after  it  took  place,  and  had  confirmed  to  me  on  the  spot 
what  I  had  the  year  previous  so  often  heard  asserted. 

A  camp  follower  had  been  convicted  of  the  murder  of  his  own 
mother,  and  had  been  condemned  to  the  gallows.  As  he  was  a 
notoriously  vile  man  —  the  suspicion  of  having  committed  other 
murders  resting  on  him,  and  the  present  one  being  of  peculiar 
aggravation — his  body  was  condemned  to  hang  on  the  gibbet  ex- 
posed to  the  public  gaze,  a  terror  to  evil  doers.  Whether  this 
man  dispensed  his  blessings  at  the  hour  of  his  execution,  I  do 
not  know.  But  a  few  days  after  the  execution,  when  the  humors 
of  the  body  began  to  drip  on  the  ground,  the  Brahmuns  reported 
that  there  was  a  healing  efficacy  in  these  humors.  The  sick,  the 
lame,  the  blind,  and  the  diseased  of  every  description  were  as- 
sembled on  the  spot.  All  fancied  that  they  found  relief,  and 
their  fancy  no  doubt  relieved  many.  The  deluded  people 
from  every  quarter  congregated  here,  and  they  then  began  to 
pay  divine  honors  to  the  vile  remains  of  the  more  vile  murderer 
of  his  mother.  A  new  deity  was  now  created,  and,  but  for  the 
interference  of  the  English  authorities  at  Jalna,  he  might  in  a 


300  DU)IA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE. 

few  years  have  rivaled  in  celebrity  the  present  renowned  Hun 
namunt  or  Gunputtee.  This  disgusting  incident  may  show  how 
easy  it  is  for  a  people,  who  are  in  "  all  things  too  superstitious," 
to  make  a  new  god;  and  how  small  a  matter  is  the  origin  or  the 
character  of  a  god.  Many  Hindoo  deities  may  not  be  able  to 
claim  a  more  honorable  orign. 

Amulets  are  almost  universally  worn  by  the  Hindoos  for  the  pre- 
venting or  the  curing  of  diseases,  or  the  driving  off  of  evil  spirits. 
These  are  made  of  different  materials,  and  are  worn  about  the 
arm,  the  neck,  or  the  body.  Sometimes  they  consist  only  of  a 
single  thread ;  sometimes  they  are  made  of  leather,  and  set  with 
small  shells.  Strings  of  beads  form  a  very  common  amulet.  An 
instance  occurred  on  our  premises  at  Ahmednuggur,  which  illus- 
trates, very  strikingly,  the  influence  which  this  superstition  has 
over  the  mind  of  a  native,  and  sometimes  over  his  better  judg- 
ment. Kondooba  was  a  member  of  our  church,  and  had  given 
very  satisfactory  evidence  of  his  conversion.  He  had  manifested 
no  lingering  confidence  in  Hindooisin,  or  shown  any  distrust  in 
Christianity.  He  was  taken  ill.  He  suffered  much  pain,  and 
found  no  relief  in  the  medicines  we  gave  him.  His  native 
friends  advised  him  to  use  the  charm ;  and  he  accordingly  allow- 
ed them  to  tie  the  amulet  on  his  arm.  The  next  day,  when  the 
charm  was  discovered,  and  he  was  asked  the  reason  of  its  being 
there,  he  bethought  himself  of  his  error,  and  confessed  that  he 
had  sinned,  in  resorting  to  a  charm  for  the  removal  of  his  pain, 
and  not  to  God.  He  wept,  and  grieved,  and  humbled  himself 
before  the  Lord.  He  said  he  was  overcome  in  the  hour  of  temp- 
tation, when  in  the  midst  of  bodily  pain  he  inadvertenly  sought 
the  aid  of  a  false  god. 

The  superstitions,  and  consequent  ceremonies,  connected  with 
the  muntru,  are  too  prominent  in  Hindoo  mythology  to  be  pass 
ed  over  in  silence,  but  too  prolix  to  be  given  in  detail.  The 
muntru  is  a  mystic  verse,  or  incantation,  the  repetition  of  which 
is  declared  to  be  attended  with  the  most  wonderful  effect.  None 
but  Brahmuns,  and  the  higher  order  of  Hindoos,  are  allowed  to 
repeat  it.  Shoodrus  are  prohibited  to  repeat,  or  even  hear  the 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  301 

muntru,  on  pain  of  eternal  torment.  All  things  are  subservient 
to  the  muntru.  The  gods  themselves  cannot  resist  it.  It  is  the 
essence  of  the  Yedas;  it  is  the  united  power  of  Brahmu,  Vish- 
uoo  and  Shiva.  By  its  magic  power,  it  confers  all  sancity,  par- 
dons all  sin,  secures  all  good,  temporal  and  spiritual,  and  pro- 
cures everlasting  blessedness  in  the  world  to  come.  It  possesses 
the  wonderful  charm  of  interchanging  good  for  evil,  truth  for 
falsehood,  light  for  darkness,  and  of  confirming  such  perversions 
by  the  most  holy  sanction.  Indeed,  there  is  nothing  so  difficult, 
so  silly,  or  so  absurd,  that  may  not  be  achieved  by  this  extraor- 
dinary muntru. 

Whenever  the  wonder-working  Brahmun  chooses,  the  natural 
properties  of  bodies  may  be  changed  only  by  the  repetition  of  a 
single  mystic  verse,  the  relations  of  objects  destroyed,  and  the 
very  laws  of  nature  be  suspended.  Men  and  brutes  become 
gods ;  gold,  silver,  brass  and  stone,  receive  the  divine  spark.  A 
poor  Brahmun  once  came  to  me  to  solicit  employment.  The  rag- 
ged, filthy  cloth  with  which  he  attempted  to  cover  his  person, 
was  voucher  enough  for  the  tale  of  poverty  which  he  related. 
After  expressing  all  our  pity  for  his  destitution,  and  informing 
him  how  a  young,  healthful  man  like  myself  might  find  an  im- 
mediate relief  in  his  necessities,  I  asked  him  how  it  was  possible 
that  a  Brahmun  could  be  so  poor  as  he  appeared  to  be  ?  "  Have 
you  not  the  muntru  ?"  "  Yes."  "  Can  you  not  by  means  of  that 
do  any  thing  you  choose  ?  Can  you  not  expel  all  these  foreign- 
ers from  your  land,  take  the  reins  of  government  yourselves, 
secure  the  departing  wealth  of  your  country,  change  stones  to 
gold,  and  misery  to  happiness?"  "Yes,  yes,"  said  he,  "such  is 
the  power  of  the  muntru,  but  the  muntru  fails  where  foreigners 
have  the  dominion."  "  No,  no,"  answered  my  pundit,  who  sat 
by,  and  had  anticipated  my  next  question,  "that  is  not  the 
reason ;  the  Brahmuns,  though  possessed  of  ample  power  to  ex- 
tinguish the  English  Government  any  time  they  choose,  have 
judged  it  expedient  to  humble  themselves  in  the  sight  of  all 
nations,  and  to  subject  themselves  and  their  people  to  a  long 
penance.  Hence  they  have  allowed  strangers  to  devour  them,  in 


302  INDIA^AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

like  manner  as  a  man  in  the  performance  of  the  penance  called 
tuppu  subjects  himself  to  the  most  painful  austerities.  All  this, 
said  he,  goes  to  corroborate  the  idea  of  the  mighty  efficacy  of 
the  muntru."  The  valor  of  British  arms,  the  glory  of  British 
possessions,  and  the  duration  of  British  rule,  are  grants  at  the 
will  of  a  few  apparently  impotent  Brahmuns,  poor,  dirty,  cring- 
ing fellows,  who  will  stoop  to  almost  any  servility  to  gain  their 
bread ! 

The  following  declarations  are  found  in  the  Hindoo  sacred 
books,  respecting  the  efficacy  of  the  mystic  verse,  or  the  muntru : 
"Whoever  shall  repeat,  day  by  day,  for  three  years,  without 
negligence,  that  sacred  text,  shall  hereafter  approach  the  divine 
essence, move  as  free  as  air,  and  assume  an  ethereal  form."  "By 
the  sole  repetition  of  this  verse,  a  priest  may  indubitably  obtain 
beatitude,  let  him  perform  or  not  perform  any  other  religious 
act."  "He  who,  seated  opposite  the  sun,  repeats  this  verse,  is 
liberated  from  fear  and  sickness ;  misfortune  ceases,  and  unlawful 
meats,  drinks,  intercourse  and  connections,  become  pure  and 
lawful.  "Whoever  in  the  morning  repeats  that  invocation  which 
ought  not  to  be  communicated  to  another,  becomes  prosperous, 
and  obtains  every  temporal  and  spiritual  advantage ;  and  who- 
ever repeats  it  continually  every  morning,  noon  and  night,  obtains 
the  fruit  of  a  hundred  sacrifices,  and  passes  over  the  mournful 
sea  of  mortality." 

The  communication  of  this  wonder-working  verse,  together 
with  the  investiture  of  the  sacred  thread,  is  called  the  Savitree. 
Nothing  can  be  more  wonderful  and  absurd  than  the  pretended 
efficacy  of  these  ceremonies  on  the  young  Brahmun.  He  instant- 
aneously becomes  a  "twice-born,"  or  regenerate  man,  and  is 
afterwards  an  object  of  veneration  and  worship.  The  sacred 
thread  is  always  worn  by  the  Brahmuns  over  the  left  shoulder, 
crossing  over  the  breast  to  the  right,  and  it  is  renewed  annually. 

The  investiture  is,  properly  speaking,  a  sacrament.  Besides 
this,  there  are  several  others  which  may  be  named  in  the  same 
connection.  In  enumerating  the  ceremonies,  or,  in  other  words, 
the  sacraments  of  the  Hindoo  religion,  I  shall  not  go  into  detail. 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  303 

Should  I  attempt  "this,  I  should  subject  myself  to  the  charge  of 
gross  indelicacy.  These  ceremonies,  which  by  some  are  said  to 
be  eighteen,  by  others  sixteen,  and  by  others  twelve,  are,  accord- 
ing to  the  last  estimate,  the  following :  The  sacrifice  on  or  before 
conception;  sacrifice  on  vitality  in  the  fetus;  sacrifice  in  the 
fourth,  sixth,  or  eighth  month  after  pregnancy;  giving  the  infant 
clarified  butter  out  of  a  golden  spoon  at  the  cutting  of  the  naval 
string ;  naming  the  child  on  the  tenth,  eleventh,  twelfth,  or  hun- 
dred-and-first  day;  carrying  him  out  to  see  the  moon  on  the 
third  lunar  day  of  the  third  fortnight,  or  to  see  the  sun  in -the 
third  or  fourth  month ;  feeding  him  with  rice  on  the  sixth  or 
eighth  month,  or  when  he  has  cut  teeth ;  tonsure  in  the  second 
or  third  year;  investiture  with  the  sacred  string  in  the  fifth, 
eighth,  or  sixteenth  year,  accompanied  with  the  communication 
of  the  mystic  verse ;  loosing  the  moonju  (sacred  thread)  from  the 
loins,  in  preparation  for  marriage ;  marriage  and  funeral  ceremo- 
nies. 

"  The  most  intelligent  natives  are  utterly  at  a  loss  to  show  the 
moral  meaning  of  most  of  these  ceremonies.  They  can  point, 
however,  to  absurd  promises  connected  with  them.  Many  of 
them  refer  to  such  delicate  subjects,  that  I  cannot  mention  them 
here  in  any  other  way  than  by  remarking,  that  the  sex,  form  of 
the  body,  mental  and  moral  constitution  of  the  soul,  the  felicity 
or  infelicity  of  the  birth,  the  health,  the  possessions,  the  power, 
the  enjoyment,  the  age,  the  employment,  and  even  the  future 
destiny  of  men,  are  made  to  depend  on  a  few  trifling  and  absurd 
ceremonies,  performed  generally  by  friends,  without  the  slightest 
reference  to  the  spirit  with  which  they  are  conducted."  * 

The  muntru,  as  might  be  supposed,  is  employed  very  exten- 
sively for  the  removing  of  pains,  for  the  curing  of  diseases,  the 
bite  of  venomous  snakes,  the  sting  of  scorpions,  &c.  An  instance 
occurred  next  door  to  our  own  family,  too  apposite  to  be  omitted. 
As  we  were  one  day  at  dinner,  intelligence  came  that  Mr.  B. 
was  suffering  very  severely  from  the  sting  of  a  scorpion.  Mr.  A. 

*  Wilson's  Exposure  of  Hindooism. 


304  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

and  myself  hastened  to  his  house,  when  we  found  him  still  in 
great  distress,  though  partially  relieved  by  holding  the  hand 
which  had  been  stung  in  hot  water.  "When  the  pain  had  subsid- 
ed, and  the  confusion  which  had  been  occasioned  by  the  event 
had  given  place  to  order,  Mrs.  B.  was  reminded,  by  seeing  a  tum- 
bler containing  a  little  water  standing  near  her  husband,  of  the 
interest  which  their  pundit,  in  company  with  a  Brahmun,  whom 
he  had  called  in  as  soon  as  Mr.  B.  began  to  feel  the  pain  of  the 
venomous  reptile,  had  manifested  to  effect  a  speedy  cure.  He 
had-  proposed  the  application  of  the  muntru;  but  Mr.  B.  not 
seeming  to  appreciate  the  kind  offer,  the  benevolent-hearted 
Brahmun  no  doubt  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  the  distressed  man, 
although  he  might  not  then  appreciate  the  act.  Mrs.  B.  had  seen 
the  two  Brahmuns  performing  some  ceremony  over  that  same 
glass  of  water,  but  took  no  further  notice  of  the  thing  at  the 
time.  They  said  over  the  glass  of  water  the  magic-working 
verse;  then  placed  it  near  Mr.  B.,  watching  the  opportunity  when 
it  might  be  a  kindness  to  attend  to  his  call  for  water.  The  mun- 
trified  water  was  accordingly  offered,  and  Mr.  B.,  not  knowing  the 
design,  and  almost  senseless  from  pain,  gladly  drunk  it  off.  The 
pain  being  removed,  we  had  our  amusement  at  the  joke,  and  the 
Brahmuns,  no  doubt,  appropriated  to  themselves  the  more  sub- 
stantial satisfaction  of  having  cured  the  bite  of  the  venomous 
beast. 

Amulets,  likewise,  are  worn  for  the  preventing  and  the  curing 
of  serpent  bites.  There  is  a  fountain  of  water  near  Sattara, 
which  has  a  high  reputation  for  its  efficacy  in  such  cases ;  and 
there  are  also  several  temples  famous  for  the  performance  of  the 
same  cures.  I  recollect  stopping,  about  three  years  ago,  in  a 
small  village  a  few  miles  north  from  Poona,  where  the  people 
said  the  god  of  their  village  was  much  renowned  for  the  curing 
of  serpent  bites.  If  a  man  or  a  beast  were  bitten  by  a  serpent, 
they  said  they  had  only  to  bring  him  into  the  presence  of  their 
god  and  he  was  immediately  cured.  No  one,  they  said,  had  ever 
died,  if  he  could  but  be  got  to  the  temple.  I  did  not  much  doubt 
this ;  for  the  chances  were,  nine  out  of  ten,  that  if  the  person  or 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

tne  beast  bitten  did  not  die  before  lie  could  be  brought,  by  the 
slow  process  of  the  Hindoos'  movements,  to  the  temple,  he  would 
not  die  of  the  bite,  either  there  or  elsewhere. 

It  is  generally  to  be  remarked,  that  when  the  Hindoos  apply 
to  us  for  medicine  in  case  of  sickness,  in  preference  to  resorting 
to  the  muiitru,  or  to  some  similar  remedy,  and  are  cured  by  our 
prescriptions,  they  seldom,  if  ever,  attribute  the  cure  to  the  medi- 
cine which  they  have  taken,  and  which,  under  God,  has  afforded 
them  relief,  but  to  some  ceremony  which  they  have  performed  at 
the  same  time.  Several  instances  have  come  to  my  knowledge, 
in  which  I  have  known  persons  to  whom  I  have  given  medicine, 
and  who  were  most  evidently  benefited  by  it,  to  get  up  a  proces- 
sion, employ  a  band  of  musicians,  and  celebrate  the  praises  of 
their  god  for  the  cure.  They  would  neither  thank  me  for  my 
trouble,  nor  acknowledge  the  kind  hand  of  God  in  giving 
efficacy  to  the  means  which  were  used. 

In  few  respects  do  the  Hindoos  suffer  more  on  account  of  their 
superstitions  than  they  do  in  reference  to  sickness  and  disease. 
Many  a  wretched  creature  spends  "all  his  living"  for  the  pre- 
scriptions of  some  quack,  or  drags  out  a  miserable  existence  and 
dies  in  the  midst  of  the  charms  and  the  enchantments  of  a  Brah- 
mun.  The  practice  of  medicine  among  the  Hindoos  is  the  most 
downright  quackery.  Many  die  without  any  medical  attendance, 
and  thousands  are  hastening  to  their  graves  by  the  bad  treatment 
of  their  quacks.  The  mimber  of  blind,  lame,  maimed,  leprous, 
and  diseased,  is  astonishingly  great  in  India;  and  no  doubt  one 
principal  reason  for  this  is  the  bad  treatment,  or  the  want  of 
good  treatment,  in  the  original  complaint. 

An  extract  from  the  "  Travels  of  Bernier,"  a  French  traveler, 
and  for  twelve  years  a  resident  at  the  court  of  Delhi,  as  physi- 
cian to  the  Great  Mogul,  Aurungzebe,  more  than  a  century  and 
a  half  ago,  will  very  appropriately  close  this  article.  I  quote 
this  author  with  the  more  pleasure,  because  he  enjoyed  the  op- 
portunity of  minutely  and  accurately  observing,  and  had  the 
ability  to  delineate  the  character  and  strange  customs  of  the  Hin- 
doos in  the  remote  period  of  his  residence  among  them : 
20 


306  INDIA   AND   ITS    PEOPLE. 

"  The  eclipse  which  I  witnessed  at  Delhi  seems  also  very  re- 
markable, from  the  preposterous  notions  and  superstitions  of  the 
Indians.  At  the  time  of  its  appearance,  I  ascended  the  terrace 
of  my  house,  which  was  situate  on  the  banks  of  the  Jumna, 
whence  I  saw  both  sides  of  the  river,  to  the  extent  of  a  full  league, 
covered  with  Hindoos,  who  stood  up  to  their  middle  in  the  river, 
gazing  attentively  at  the  sky,  that  they  might  plunge  and  wash 
themselves  the  moment  the  eclipse  should  commence.  The  little 
boys  and  girls  were  in  a  complete  state  of  nudity ;  the  men  were 
likewise  so,  with  the  exception  of  a  piece  of  linen  girded  about 
the  loins ;  and  the  married  women,  together  with  the  young  fe- 
males, who  were  not  above  six  or  seven  years  of  age,  were  merely 
clad  with  a  simple  cloth.  Persons  of  rank,  such  as  rajahs,  or 
Hindoo  princes,  and  the  shroffs,  or  money-changers,  the  bankers, 
jewelers,  and  other  great  merchants,  were  for  the  most  part  gone 
to  the  opposite  side  of  the  water  with  their  families,  and  had 
there  pitched  tents,  and  fixed  in  the  river  certain  kuimauts, 
(a  kind  of  screen,)  to  perform  their  ceremonies,  and  conveniently 
to  wash  themselves  along  with  their  wives,  so  as  not  to  be  seen 
by  any  body.  The  idolaters  no  sooner  perceived  the  commence- 
ment of  the  eclipse  than  they  raised  a  tremendous  shout,  and  at 
once  plunged  themselves  into  the  water,  I  know  not  how  often 
in  succession ;  then  standing  up  erect  in  the  water,  with  their 
eyes  and  hands  extended  to  heaven,  muttering  and  praying  with 
apparent  devotion,  and  at  intervals  taking  water  in  their  hands, 
which  they  threw  towards  the  sun,  bowing  their  heads  most  pro- 
foundly, moving  and  turning  their  arms  and  hands,  sometimes  in 
one  fashion,  sometimes  in  another;  thus  continuing  their  plunges, 
their  prayers  and  their  fooleries,  to  the  termination  of  the  eclipse, 
at  which  time  every  one  withdrew,  throwing  pieces  of  cocoa-nut 
some  distance  into  the  water,  and  bestowing  alms  on  the  Brah- 
muns  or  priests,  who  did  not  fail  to  be  present  at  the  ceremony. 
I  remarked  on  coming  out  of  the  water  that  they  all  took  new 
clothes,  which  were  lying  ready  for  them  on  the  land,  and  that 
many,  the  most  devout  in  appearance,  left  on  the  spot  their  old 
apparel  for  the  Brahmuns.  And  thus  did  I  view  from  my  ter- 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  307 

race  this  grand  festival  of  the  eclipse,  which  was  in  like  man- 
ner celebrated  on  the  Indus,  on  the  Ganges,  and  on  all  the  other 
rivers  and  reservoirs  of  India ;  but  above  all  on  that  of  the  Ze- 
naiser,  where  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  persons 
from  all  parts  of  India  were  assembled,  its  waters  on  such  davs 
being  reputed  more  holy  and  efficacious  than  on  any  other." 

I  might  here  quote  from  the  same  author  several  most  horrid 
descriptions  of  the  Suttee,  as  witnessed  by  himself.  But  as  this 
heart-sickening  practice  has  been  so  often  described,  and  as  it 
will  soon,  I  trust,  remain  as  a  subject  only  to  be  referred  to  in 
history,  I  forbear. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

Hindoo  Deities — Tlieir   Origin — Their   Character — Shiva — The   Lingam — Krishna — 

Indra. 

VOLUMES  might  be  written  on  this  subject,  which  would  neither 
repay  the  writer  nor  instruct  or  amuse  the  reader.  I  shall  only 
add  to  what  has  already  been  inserted  in  the  memoir  on  the  gen- 
eral subject  of  the  character  of  the  gods,  a  few  specimens,  which 
will  better  illustrate  their  particular  character.  I  have  selected 
those  deities  which  are  in  the  highest  repute  among  the  people. 
And  here  I  shall  again  quote  the  Abbe  Dubois  in  his  descriptions 
of  Shiva,  Lingam,  Krishna,  and  Indra. 

SHIVA. 

"  This  god  is  generally  represented  under  a  terrible  shape,  to 
show,  by  a  menacing  exterior,  the  power  which  he  possesses  of 
destroying  all  things.  To  aggravate  the  horrors  of  his  appear- 
ance, he  is  represented  with  his  body  all  covered  with  ashes. 
His  long  hair  is  platted  and  curled  in  the  most  whimsical  way. 
His  eyes,  unnaturally  large,  give  him  the  appearance  of  being 


308  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

in  a  perpetual  rage.  Instead  of  jewels,  they  adorn  his  ears  with 
great  serpents.  He  holds  in  his  hand  a  weapon  called  sula.  I 
have  sometimes  seen  idols  of  Shiva,  of  gigantic  proportions, 
admirably  contrived  to  inspire  terror. 

"  The  principal  attribute  of  this  god,  as  we  have  mentioned,  is 
the  power  of  universal  destruction ;  although  some  authors  also 
give  him  that  of  creation,  in  common  with  Brahmu. 

"  His  fabulous  history,  like  that  of  all  the  other  Hindoo  gods, 
is  nothing  but  a  tissue  of  absurd  and  extravagant  adventures, 
invented,  as  it  would  seem,  for  the  mere  purpose  of  exhibiting 
the  extremes  of  the  two  most  powerful  passions  which  tyran- 
nize over  man — luxury  and  ambition.  They  relate  to  the  wara 
which  he  maintained  against  the  giants ;  to  his  enmity  and  jeal- 
ousy in  opposition  to  the  other  gods ;  and,  above  all,  to  his  infa- 
mous amours. 

"  It  is  related  that,  in  one  of  his  wars,  being  desirous  of  com- 
pleting the  destruction  of  the  giants,  and  of  obtaining  possession 
of  Tripura,  the  country  which  they  inhabited,  he  cleft  the  world 
in  twain,  and  took  one-half  of  it  for  his  amour.  He  made 
Brahmu  the  general  of  his  army.  The  four  vedas  were  his 
horses.  Vishnoo  was  his  arrow.  The  mountain  Mandara  Par- 
vata  was  used  for  his  bow,  and  a  mighty  serpent  supplied  the 
place  of  the  string.  Thus  accoutred,  the  terrible  Shiva  led  his 
army  to  the  abode  of  the  tyrants  of  the  earth,  took  the  three 
fortresses  they  had  constructed,  and  demolished  them  in  a  mo- 
ment. This,  and  other  stories  of  Shiva,  are  given  at  great  length 
in  the  Bhagawata. 

"  Shiva  had  great  difficuly  in  obtaining  a  wife ;  but  having 
made  a  long  and  austere  penance  at  the  mountain  Parvata,  that 
lofty  eminence  was  so  affected  by  it  as  to  consent  at  last  to  give 
him  his  daughter  in  marriage." 

This  god,  more  generally  known  in  Western  India  by  the 
name  of  Mahadeo,  (the  great  god,)  is  almost  universally  wor- 
shiped. The  emblems  of  Shiva  are  the  Lingam,  which  is  de- 
scribed below,  and  the  Nundee  Byle  (sacred  bull).  These — the 
former  representing  the  male  organs,  and  the  latter  being  a  rep- 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  309 

resentatiou  of  the  Bull  in  Shiva's  heaven,  on  which  he  is  sup- 
posed to  ride — are  always  placed  in  front  of  the  god,  and  are 
objects  of  worship. 

THE  LINGAM. 

"  The  abomination  of  the  Lingam  takes  its  origin  from  Shiva. 
This  idol,  which  is  spread  all  over  India,  is  generally  inclosed  in 
a  little  box  of  silver,  which  all  the  votaries  of  that  god  wear  sus- 
pended at  their  necks.  It  represents  the  sexual  organs  of  man, 
sometimes  alone,  and  sometimes  accompanied.  The  long  account 
given  of  the  origin  of  this  mystery  in  the  Linga-purana,  may  be 
thus  abbreviated : 

"  Shiva  having  one  day,  in  presence  of  the  seven  famous  pen- 
itents, exhibited  himself  in  a  state  of  nature,  began  to  play  sev- 
eral indecent  vagaries  before  them.  He  persisted  till  the  peni- 
tents, being  no  longer  able  to  tolerate  his  indecency,  imprecated 
their  curse  upon  him.  The  denunciation  took  immediate  effect, 
and  from  that  moment  Shiva  was  emasculated.  Parvati,  having 
heard  of  the  misfortune  of  her  husband,  came  to  comfort  him ; 
but  I  have  not  the  courage  to  return  to  the  pages  which  contain 
the  topics  of  consolation  which  she  used,  or  the  methods  she 
employed  to  repair  his  loss. 

"  In  the  meantime,  the  penitents  having  more  coolly  considered 
the  disproportion  of  the  punishment  to  the  offense,  and  wishing 
to  make  all  the  reparation  in  their  power  to  the  unhappy  Shiva, 
decreed  that  all  his  worshipers  should  thenceforth  address  their 
prayers,  adoration,  and  sacrifices  to  what  the  imprecation  had 
deprived  him  of. 

"  Such  is  the  infamous  origin  of  the  Lingam,  which  is  not  only 
openly  represented  in  the  temples,  on  the  highways,  and  in  other 
public  situations,  but  is  worn  by  the  votaries  of  Shiva,  as  the 
most  precious  relic,  hung  at  their  necks,  or  fastened  to  their 
arms  and  hair,  and  receiving  from  them  sacrifices  and  adoration." 

The  Lingam  is  the  ordinary  symbol  of  all  the  followers  of 
Shiva.  That  sect  spreads  over  the  whole  of  India,  but  particu- 
larly in  the  west  of  the  peninsula,  where  the  Liugamites  com 


310  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

pose,  in  many  districts,  the  chief  part  of  the  population.  The 
particular  customs  of  the  sect  have  been  before  noticed;  the 
most  remarkable  of  which  are,  their  abstinence  from  whatever 
has  had  the  principle  of  life,  and  the  practice  of  interring  their 
dead,  in  place  of  burning  them,  as  most  other  Hindoos  do. 

"  We  know  not  to  what  excess  the  spirit  of  idolatry  may  lead 
the  ignorant;  but  it  is  incredible,  it  even  seems  impossible,  that 
the  Liugam  could  have  originated  in  the  direct  and  literal  wor- 
ship of  what  it  represents ;  but  rather  that  it  was  an  allegorical 
allusion,  of  a  striking  kind,  to  typify  the  procreative  and  regen- 
erating powers  of  nature,  by  which  all  kinds  of  being  are  repro- 
duced and  maintained  in  the  wide  universe." 

There  is  nothing  in  the  whole  system  of  Hindoo  abominations 
BO  shockingly  abominable  as  the  worship  of  the  Lingam.  K"ot 
only  is  this  vile  representation  worshiped  in  their  public  temples, 
not  only  hung  about  their  necks  in  a  silver  case,  or  worn  in  the 
manner  of  ornaments  on  the  arms,  but  the  women  may  be  seen 
of  a  morning  on  the  sea  shore,  or  near  the  river,  where  the  peo- 
ple go  to  bathe,  forming  lingams  of  mud,  and  placing  them  in 
the  sand,  then  bowing  down  and  worshiping  them. 

KRISHNA. 

"  Besides  the  ten  avataras  of  Vishnoo,  the  Hindoos  recognize 
another,  which  is  that  of  his  change  into  the  person  of  Krishna. 
This  metamorphosis,  and  all  the  fables  that  accompany  it,  are 
contained  in  the  book  called  Bhagawata,  which  is  scarcely  less 
famous  than  the  Ramayana. 

"  Krishna,  at  his  birth,  was  obliged  to  be  concealed  in  order  to 
avoid  the  attack  of  a  giant  who  sought  his  life.  He  escaped  his 
enemy  under  the  disguise  of  a  beggar.  He  was  reared  by  per- 
sons of  that  caste,  and  soon  exhibited  marks  of  the  most  unbri- 
dled libertinism.  Plunder  and  rape  were  familiar  to  him  from 
his  tender  years.  It  was  his  chief  pleasure  to  go  every  morning 
to  the  place  where  the  women  bathe,  and,  in  concealment,  to 
take  advantage  of  their  unguarded  exposure.  Then  he  rushed 
amongst  them,  took  possession  of  their  clothes,  and  gave  loose 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

to  the  indecencies  of  language  and  of  gesture.  He  maintained 
sixteen  wives,  who  had  the  title  of  queens,  and  sixteen  thousand 
concubines.  All  these  women  bore  children  almost  without 
number ;  but  Krishna,  fearing  that  they  would  league  against 
him,  and  deprive  him  of  his  power,  murdered  them  all.  He  had 
long  and  cruel  wars  with  the  giants,  with  various  success.  At 
last,  his  infamous  conduct  drew  upon  him  the  curse  of  a  virtuous 
woman,  the  effects  of  which  were  soon  apparent  in  a  wound,  of 
which  he  died." 

It  seems  scarcely  credible  that  a  people  should  hold  up  to 
admiration  so  vile  a  character  as  that  ascribed  to  Vishnoo,  when 
regarded  merely  as  a  man ;  and  yet  more  wonderful  that  they 
should  ascribe  such  a  character  to  a  god,  a  popular  object  of 
their  worship.  They  unblushingly  descant  on  Radha,  his  princi- 
pal mistress,  of  his  sixteen  wives,  his  sixteen  thousand  concubines, 
and  the  sixteen  hundred  milk-maids,  with  whom  he  used  to 
dance  and  commit  all  manner  of  fooleries  and  abominations  — 
how  he  stole  a  girl  that  was  betrothed  to  another  and  married 
her.  His  tricks,  jokes,  thefts,  and  deceptions  form  the  most 
common  themes  of  amusement  for  story-tellers  and  loungers  in 
every  place  of  public  resort. 

And  his  worship  is  of  a  piece  with  his  reputed  character. 
Many  of  the  rites  performed  at  the  poojas  of  Vishnoo  are  shock- 
ingly indecent.  "  These  nightly  poojas  are  connected  with  the 
greatest  impurities."  While  the  pooja  is  going  on  within  the 
house  or  temple  where  celebrated,  singing,  dancing,  reveling, 
and  every  kind  of  indecency  may  be  witnessed  outside.  Youth 
dressed  up  to  represent  Yishnoo  and  his  mistress  Radha  dance 
together.  Thieves,  gamblers,  and  and  all  sorts  of  vile  characters 
are  prominent  actors  in  the  scene.  "  It  is  amazing,"  says  one 
long  a  resident  in  the  country,  "  how  much  this  scene  looks  like 
an  English  race-ground.  Here  I  have  seen  gray-headed  idola- 
ters and  mad  youths  dancing  together,  the  old  man  lifting  his 
withered  arms  in  the  dance  and  giving  a  kind  of  horror  to  the 
scene,  which  idolatry  itself,  united  to  the  vivacity  of  youth,  would 
scarcely  be  able  to  inspire." 


312  INDIA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE. 

Allusion  to  a  single  scene  in  the  annual  pooja  performed  in 
honor  of  this  vile  god,  will  suffice  to  give  an  idea  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  whole.  Before  the  house  where  this  pooja  is  to  be 
celebrated*  "  a  hole  is  cut  in  the  ground,  and  filled  with  water 
to  make  mud.  Into  this,  oil,  sour  milk,  and  tuamerick  are 
thrown  and  mixed  up  with  the  mud.  Afterwards,  the  crowd 
begin  the  play,  by  seizing  first  one  person  and  then  another,  and 
rolling  them  in  the  mud ;  others  roll  themselves  in  it.  To  this  is 
added  music,  dancing,  singing  of  obscene  songs,  and  all  kinds  of 
revelry."  In  this  frenzied  manner,  dancing  through  the  streets, 
they  go  to  some  pool  of  water,  or  to  the  river,  wash  themselves, 
and  thus  ends  the  festivity. 

Such  worship  commends  itself  as  at  least  suitable  to  the  char- 
acter of  such  a  god,  and  appropriate  to  the  character  of  his  wor- 
shipers. We  might  select  scenes  in  worship  of  the  goddess 
Doorja  quite  as  revolting.  After  feasting  Brahmuns,  and  mak- 
ing offerings  to  the  gods,  and  revelings  and  songs  obscene,  the 
pooja  closes  with  a  finale  quite  in  keeping  with  what  has  gone 
before.  "  Many  rich  men  engage  a  number  of  prostitutes  to 
dance  and  sing  before  the  idol.  Their  songs  are  exceedingly  ob- 
scene, and  their  dances  very  indecent.  The  clothes  of  these 
women  are  so  thin  that  they  are  almost  the  same  as  naked ;  the 
hair  of  some  is  thrown  loose,  hanging  down  to  the  waist ;  they 
are  almost  covered  with  ornaments.  "While  these  dances  are 
going  forward,  the  doors  are  shut  to  keep  out  the  crowd.  Euro 
peans  are  carefully  excluded." 

INDRA   OR  DEVENDRA. 

"This  god,  as  we  have  before  stated,  is  king  of  the  inferior 
deities,  who  sojourn  with  him  in  his  paridise  called  Swarga,  or 
seat  of  sensual  pleasures ;  for  in  this  voluptuous  abode  no  other 
are  known.  All  who  are  admitted  into  it  have  a  supply  of 
women  equal  to  the  most  inordinate  concupiscence;  and  their 
vigor  is  so  increased  as  to  render  them  capable  of  perpetual 
fruition. 

"  It  will  be  naturally  supposed  that  the  history  of  a  god  who 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  813 

rules  over  a  society  like  this,  must  be  disgusting,  and  filled  with 
nauseous  obscenity ;  and  it  certainly  would  be  a  cruel  task  to  be 
obliged  to  submit  to  the  perusal  of  what  the  Hindoo  books  con- 
tain on  the  subject  of  Devendra,  and  of  the  detestable  gratifica- 
tions in  which  the  votaries  who  are  admitted  into  his  paradise 
indulge. 

"  It  makes  me  blush  even  to  allude  to  such  obscenities ;  and 
the  shame  they  occasion  restrains  me  from  entering  into  an  en- 
larged detail  of  the  fables  relating  to  the  divinities  of  India, 
which  are  replete  with  allusions  equally  abhorrent  to  modesty 
and  reason." 

Indra  was  once  among  the  most  celebrated  of  Hindoo  deities, 
but  at  present  he  appears  to  be  much  out  of  vogue.  His  import- 
ance now  is  merely  nominal.  Similar  revolutions  no  doubt  are 
continually  occurring  in  reference  to  other  deities.  Brahmu,  once 
a  superior  deity,  and  still  the  first  person  of  the  Hindoo  trinity, 
is  now,  through  his  indecent  behavior,  expelled  from  the  society 
of  gods.  !N"o  temple  is  now  built  to  him,  no  one  pays  him  divine 
honors,  no  one  repeats  his  name ;  while  Hunumunt,  a  god  of 
yesterday,  a  monkey,  a  general  of  a  monkey  army,  is  worshiped, 
throughout  all  "Western  India,  and  very  generally  throughout 
the  whole  countiy.  His  temple  is  to  be  seen  in  every  village, 
and  his  name  is  in  every  one's  mouth.  New  gods  are  constantly 
springing  into  existence,  which  will  in  their  turn  throw  the 
divine  monkey  in  the  back  ground,  and  become  the  principal  di- 
vinities of  the  country.  Within  the  last  two  years,  several  in- 
stances of  this  nature  have  occurred  to  my  own  knowledge.  A 
new  divinity  has  within  this  period  been  created  in  Bombay, 
which  promises  fair  to  supplant  some  of  his  more  honored  pre- 
decessors. A  rich  native  by  the  name  of  Darkjee  Dadajee,  built 
and  adorned  a  superb  temple,  and  set  up  in  it  a  god,  whom  he 
called  Darkeshwar  —  a  name  derived  by  substituting  Eshwar,  an 
appellation  of  the  Supreme  Being,  for  jee,  the  honorary  post-fix 
of  his  own  name.  Thus,  by  joining  to  his  own  name  the  name 
of  the  Supreme,  he  has  given  to  the  world  a  new  divinity. 

I  have  already,  in  a  preceding  chapter  of  this  volume,  given 


314  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

an  account  of  the  creation  of  a  god  at  Jalna.  But  for  tht 
timely  interference  of  the  English,  the  murderer  of  his  rnothei 
might  have  become  as  renowned  as  Ram  or  Krishna.  The  monu- 
ment of  Col.  Wallis,  in  the  burying-ground  at  Seroor,  is  wor- 
shiped by  the  Hindoos,  in  the  same  way  as  the  Mussulmans  wor- 
ship the  tombs  of  their  saints.  A  light  is  kept  constantly  burn- 
ing before  the  tomb,  and  natives  of  all  classes  bow  before  the 
monument  as  they  do  at  their  temples.  The  colonel,  who  was 
much  esteemed  by  the  natives  while  living,  is  now  enrolled  in 
the  canon  of  their  saints,  and  not  unlikely  he  will  yet  find  a 
place  in  the  Hindoo  pantheon.  Similar  honors  are  likewise  paid 
to  the  tomb  of  Lord  Cornwallis,  in  Bombay. 

I  might  here  name  another  instance  which  fell  under  my  own 
observation  at  Ahmednuggur.  It  is  not  very  similar  to  the  ex- 
amples above,  but  not  less  indicative  of  the  stupid  propensity  of 
the  Hindoos  to  worship  any  thing  but  the  true  God  which 

chance  throws  in  their  way.  Captain  M ,  of  the  British 

anny,  at  the  death  of  his  mistress,  a  Hindoo  woman  of  low  caste, 
indulged  the  extraordinary  whim  of  erecting  a  tomb  over  her 
remains.  The  architect,  a  Hindoo,  brought  him  the  plan  of  a 
temple,  which  seems  to  have  pleased  him  so  well,  that  he  allowed 
the  architect  to  follow  it.  When  it  was  completed,  it  was  sup- 
plied with  images  by  the  same  person.  These  were  at  once  recog- 
nized by  the  people  to  be  legitimate  gods,  and  received  their 
adoration.  And  had  not  the  temple  been  abused,  and  the  deities 
profaned,  by  some  European  soldiers,  whose  indignation  seems 
to  have  been  excited  by  the  outrage  which  decency  as  well  as 
Christianity  received,  this  place  would  in  all  probability  have 
become  the  resort  of  idolaters  for  many  generations  to  come.  > 

It  would,  perhaps,  be  impossible,  were  it  of  any  utility,  to 
trace  out  the  origin  of  most  of  the  Hindoo  pantheon.  There  are 
legends  extant,  which  profess  to  give  the  origin  of  some  of  these 
deities.  But  they  are  probably  sheer  fabrications.  As  a  speci- 
men, we  may  take  the  story  of  Gunputtee,  a  god  almost  univer- 
sally worshiped.  He  is  said  to  be  the  son  of  Pawuttee,  the  wife 
of  Shiva,  though  not  by  natural  birth.  "\Yliile  Shiva  was  one 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  315 

day  absent  on  a  hunting  excursion,  his  wife  seized  the  opportu- 
nity of  bathing  in  her  own  house.  But  fearing  her  husband 
might  suddenly  return,  or  she  be  otherwise  interrupted,  she  de- 
sired to  place  a  porter  at  her  door.  Having  no  one  near,  she 
hit  on  the  following  happy  expedient :  She  took  the  dirt  which 
she  had  washed  from  her  person,  and  formed  a  sepoy.  At  her 
will  the  day  became  animated,  and  was  placed  for  a  guard  at  the 
door.  Shiva  soon  after  returned ;  but  on  attempting  to  enter  the 
house,  he  was  repulsed;by  the  unexpected  sentinel.  Enraged  at 
this  affront,  he  drew  Ki»  sword,  and  severed  the  young  man's 
head  from  his  body,  and  went  in  pursuit  of  his  wife.  She,  sur- 
prised and  astonished  at  his  appearance  in  spite  of  her  porter, 
demanded  how  he  had  entered.  He  replied  "  that  he  had  killed 
the  impudent  fellow  at  the  door."  She  exclaimed,  in  an  agony 
of  grief,  "  You  have  killed  my  son,  you  have  killed  my  son !" 
Her  excessive  grief  softened  the  rage  of  the  infuriated  husband, 
and  he  promised  to  make  her  amends.  He  accordingly  went  out 
and  decapitated  an  elephant,  and  placed  the  head  on  the  trunk 
of  the  unfortunate  son  of  Pawuttee,  and  restored  him  to  life ; 
and  at  the  same  time  ordained  that  he  should,  under  the  name 
of  Gunputtee,  or  Gunesh,  (which  means  the  lord  of  armies,)  be 
worshiped  throughout  the  whole  world.  He  is,  accordingly, 
every  where  adored,  as  the  god  of  wisdom,  and  the  remover  of 
obstacles.  Hence  he  is  invoked  at  the  commencement  of  every 
undertaking.  He  is  represented  as  a  short,  fat  man,  with  the 
head  of  an  elephant. 

I  am  aware  this  is  not  the  only  account  which  is  given  of  the 
origin  of  Gunputtee.  Like  most  things  in  Hindoo  mythology, 
not  only  the  traditions,  but  the  written  accounts  contained  in 
the  shastras,  are  so  contradictory,  that  it  is  impossible  to  know 
what  the  Hindoos  themselves  believe  in  reference  to  these  mat- 
ters. Concerning  the  deified  man,  Tukaram,  of  whom  it  is  writ- 
ten that  he  was  taken  up  bodily  into  heaven,  there  are,  in  differ- 
ent Hindoo  books,  no  less  than  six  different  places  specified 
from  which  he  ascended,  and  these  places  far  distant  from  each 
other. 


316  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

The  above  account  of  Gunputtee  was  given  to  me  by  Babajee ; 
and  I  have  no  doubt  it  is  as  worthy  of  credit  as  any  account 
extant. 

Since  writing  the  above,  I  have  read  with  much  interest  the 
"  Travels  of  Bernier,"  a  French  physician,  in  Upper  India. 
His  remarks,  or  rather  the  opinions  of  others,  which  he  details, 
respecting  the  Hindoo  triad,  are  so  curious,  if  not  well  founded, 
that  I  am  induced  to  extract  them.  Speaking  of  the  three  prin- 
cipal deities  of  the  Hindoos,  he  says :  "  With  respect  to  these 
three  beings,  I  have  seen  several  European  missionaries  who 
were  of  opinion  that  the  Hindoos  have  some  conception  of  the 
mystery  of  the  trinity,  and  said  it  was  expressly  declared  in 
their  books  to  consist  of  three  persons  in  one  God.  For  my  own 
part,  I  have  repeatedly  argued  with  the  pundits,  but  they  ex- 
plain themselves  so  ambiguously,  that  I  have  never  been  able 
exactly  to  comprehend  their  ideas  on  the  subject.  Nay,  I  have 
heard  them  declare  that  there  are  three  most  perfect  beings 
whom  they  call  Divityus,  but  without  clearly  explaining  what 
they  imply.  In  this  they  resemble  the  ancient  idolaters,  who 
never  denned  the  words  genii  and  numina,  which  is,  I  think,  the 
same  as  Divityu  among  these  idolaters.  I  have  also  conversed 
with  the  more  learned  pundits,  who,  it  is  true,  assert  that  these 
three  beings  are  really  one  and  the  same  god,  viewed  under  three 
different  attributes,  viz :  the  creator,  the  preserver,  and  the  de- 
stroyer of  all  things.  Moreover,  I  have  discoursed  with  the  rev- 
erend Father  Kou,  a  German  Jesuit,  a  missionary  at  Agra,  well 
versed  in  the  Sanskrit,  who  maintained  that,  not  only  did  their 
books  declare  the  existence  of  one  God  in  three  persons,  but  the 
incarnation  nine  times  of  the  second  person  of  their  trinity.  I 
will  relate  what  a  certain  Carmelite  of  Shiraz  communicated 
to  the  reverend  father  above  mentioned,  when  traveling  through 
that  city  on  his  way  to  Rome  : 

" '  The  Hindoos,'  says  he,  '  do  aver  that  the  second  person  of 
the  trinity  was  nine  times  incarnate,  and  that  he  delivered  the 
world  from  its  manifold  sin  and  iniquities.  But  the  eighth  incar- 
nation is  the  most  celebrated,  inasmuch  as  they  entertain  the 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  317 

notion  that  the  world,  being  subjected  to  the  power  of  giants,  was 
redeemed  by  the  second  person,  incarnated,  and  born  of  a  virgin,  at 
midnight ;  the  angels  chanting  praises  in  the  air,  and  the  heavens 
showering  down  flowers  during  the  whole  night.  This  incarnate 
god  slew  first  of  all  a  giant,  who  flew  in  the  air,  and  who  was  so 
hideous  and  monstrous  as  to  obscure  the  sun,  and,  by  his  fall,  to 
cause  a  convulsion  of  the  earth,  into  which  he  penetrated  so 
deep  that  he  descended  into  hell.  That  this  god  incarnate  being 
wounded  on  the  side,  in  the  first  conflict  with  this  giant,  fell,  but 
by  his  fall  routed,  and.  put  his  foes  to  flight;  that  after  he  had  raised 
himself  again,  and  redeemed  the  world,  he  ascended  into  heaven ; 
and  that,  because  of  his  wound,  he  is  commonly  denominated, 
Wounded  in  the  side.' " 

I  must  not  here  omit  a  reference  to  one  other  deity,  whose  of- 
fice is  of  a  more  practical  character  than  any  yet  named.  I  refer 
to  Vishwakurma,  called  the  son  of  Bruma,  and  the  architect  of 
the  gods.  He  presides  over  all  the  arts  and  manufactures  of 
mortals ;  and,  consequently,  occupies  an  important  position  in  the 
regards  of  all  laborers,  artizans  and  business  men,  who  worship 
this  wonderful  god  at  least  once  a  year,  that  they  may  obtain 
success  in  their  business. 

Vishwakurma  is  painted  white,  with  three  eyes,  holding  a 
club  in  his  right  hand,  wearing  a  crown  upon  his  head,  a  neck- 
lace of  gold,  and  rings  on  his  wrists. 

Each  class  of  artificers  performs  this  worship  through  some  of 
the  implements  of  its  trade.  The  joiners,  for  example,  set  up 
their  mallet,  chisel,  saw,  and  hatehet,  as  a  representative  of  their 
god,  painting  them,  putting  flowers  on  them,  then  worshiping 
them  with  the  usual  ceremonies.  "Weavers  make  use  of  their 
shuttle,  putting  it  into  the  hole  in  which  they  put  their  feet  when 
they  sit  at  their  work.  The  weavers  have  one  curious  way  of 
knowing  whether  their  worship  will  be  attended  with  much 
profit.  They  get  a  new  piece  of  cloth,  oil  it  well,  and  then  set  it 
on  fire,  holding  it  up  with  a  stick.  If  it  blaze  briskly,  they  promise 
themselves  much  business.  The  barber  worships  his  razor ;  the 
potter,  the  wheel  on  which  he  turns  his  pots;  the  mason,  his 


318  IKDIA  AXD   ITS   PEOPLE. 

trowel ;  the  washerman,  his  beetle,  or  stamper,  or  his  smoothing 
iron ;  the  blacksmith,  his  hammer  and  bellows ;  the  farmer,  his 
plow.  Women  who  spin,  worship  their  wheel ;  the  shoemaker 
bows  down  to  his  awl  and  his  knife.  Each  craft  chooses  the 
principal  tool  or  instrument  with  which  he  works,  and  makes  it 
his  god. 

Thus,  instead  of  raising  their  minds  to  the  Great  Source  of  all 
good,  they  are  taught  to  worship  the  tools  belonging  to  their 
trades  as  the  cause  of  their  temporal  happiness.  "  They  sacri- 
fice to  their  net,  and  burn  incense  to  their  drag,  because  by  these 
their  portion  is  fat  and  their  meat  plenteous." 

One  class,  at  least  the  potters,  abstain  from  labor  a  whole 
month  previous  to  the  time  of  performing  this  pooja. 

The  worship  itself  is  not  long;  but  the  festival  is  prolonged  by 
getting  up  as  good  a  feast  as  their  ability  will  allow,  and  inviting 
as  many  Brahmuns  as  they  can  feed.  At  the  close,  the  worship- 
ers make  all  kinds  of  merriment,  going  on  the  river  in  boats, 
singing  songs,  playing  on  different  instruments  of  their  rude 
music.  Some  of  the  better  sort  sit  in  companies,  make  and  tell 
stories ;  others  resort  to  houses  of  gambling  and  ill  fame. 

The  mechanics  and  laborers  regard  their  tools  as  the  proper 
representative  of  the  god  which  they  now  worship.  They  look 
upon  him  as  the  original  inventor  of  all  the  mechanical  arts. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  origin  of  Hindoo  deities.  I  may  speak 
of  the  origin  of  one  other,  which  further  exhibits  the  genius  of 
that  singular  system  of  priestcraft.  We  meet  in  Hindoo  mythol- 
ogy a  god  called  Hurree  Hurru.  This  is  a  union  of  Yishnoo  and 
Shiva  in  one  body.  Hurree  means  black ;  Hurru,  white.  The 
image  has  four  arms  and  two  feet. 

The  origin  of  this  image  is  as  follows :  Lukshmee  and  Dooga, 
wives  of  Yishnoo  and  Shiva,  were  once  sitting  together,  when 
the  former  said  that  Yishnoo,  her  husband,  was  greater  than 
Shiva.  Dooga  contended  for  the  pre-eminence  of  her  husband. 
Lukshmee  contended  that  her  husband  must  be  greatest,  be- 
cause for  the  reason  that  Shiva  had  worshiped  him.  In  the 
midst  of  this  conversation,  Yishnoo  came  up  and  overheard  the 


•  $  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  319 

words  of  Lukshmee.  Shiva  was  already  present.  Vishnoo, 
therefore,  to  convince  Lukshmee  tkat  both  were  equal,  immedi- 
ately entered  the  body  of  Shiva,  and  they  became  one.  Hence 
the  name  Hurreo  Ilurru.  When  Lukskmee  saw  this,  she  be<nin 

7  O 

to  pay  honor  to  Vishnoo  and  Shiva,  and  to  acknowledge  that 
both  were  equal. 

When  the  unsanctified  mind  of  man  once  cuts  loose  from  the 
simple  teachings  of  revelation,  and  the  heart  wanders  from  the 
guidance  of  the  blessed  spirit,  we  need  not  wonder  at  any  vaga- 
ries into  which  man  may  fall,  in  respect  to  religion.  Its  maytho- 
logy  will  be  peopled  by  gods  to  suit  tke  fancy  and  inclinations 
of  its  votaries,  and  its  modes  of  worship  will  correspond.  Vain 
would  be  the  attempt  to  enumerate,  much  more  to  describe,  the 
many  and  various  acts  of  worship  and  the  no  less  singular  de- 
vices by  which  this  people  hope  to  render  propitious  their  gods, 
and  accumulate  merit  which  shall  avail  them  hereafter.  At  one 
moment  you  see  them  walking  for  kours  around  a  temple,  or 
circumambulating  tke  image  witkin ;  next,  tke  stupid  devotee  is 
drinking  tke  water  in  wkick  an  image  kas  been  batked  or  a 
Brakmun  kas  dipped  kis  foot.  Anotker  act  of  merit  among  tke 
Hindoos  is  tkat  of  reading  a  book,  not  a  word  of  wkick  do  tkey 
understand. 

But  among  all  tke  singular  acts  of  religious  merit  performed 
by  tke  Hindoos,  tkat  of  teacking  parrots  to  repeat  tke  names  of 
a  god  is  tke  most  singular.  Tkis  device,  it  must  be  confessed, 
kas  not,  in  tkis  our  labor-saving  age,  received  its  due  meed  of 
praise.  Tke  Hindoos,  even  centuries  before  this  new  world  had 
emerged  from  the  great  western  ocean,  had  out-Yankeed  the 
Yankees ! 

I  And  this  invention,  too,  has  another  merit.  "  It  is  considered 
as  bringing  great  merit  both  to  the  teacher  and  his  scholar." 
The  parrot  goes  to  heaven  as  well  as  his  master.  Numbers  of 
Hindoos,  particularly  of  a  morning  and  evening,  may  be  seen  in 
the  streets  waking  about  with  parrots  in  their  hands,  which  re- 
peat after  them,  Radka-Kriskna,  Radha-Krishna,  Krishna, 


320  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

Krishna,  Radha,  Radha,  or  Shiva  Dooga,  or  Kalee  Tararou,  or 
the  name  of  some  other  god.  Six,  twelve,  or  eighteen  months 
are  sometimes  employed  before  the  parrot  has  learned  his  lesson. 
The  merit  lies  in  having  repeated  the  name  of  a  god  so  great  a 
number  of  times. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

Hindoo  Atonements  for  Sin  —  Penances — Sacrifices  —  Mortifications  —  Bodily  Inflic- 
tions— Transmigration  and  Punishment  for  Sin. 

I  HAVE  incidentally  mentioned  many  of  the  rites  and  observ- 
ances by  which  the  votaries  of  Brahmunism  seek  to  atone  for 
sin.  They  may  be  said  to  abound  in  atonements.  Holy  bathing, 
reading  the  shastras,  pilgrimage,  fasting,  giving  to  the  Brahmuns, 
feeding  devotees,  building  temples,  digging  tanks,  with  the  end- 
less routine  of  sacrifices,  penances,  and  religious  austerities,  which 
make  up  a  very  important  part  of  Hindooism,  have  been  alluded 
to  above,  and  some  of  them  have  been  briefly  described.  I  shall 
here  add  a  few  anecdotes,  which  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  sub- 
ject better  than  could  be  done  by  a  tedious  exposition. 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  wonderful  effects  of  the  muntru 
in  procuring  the  pardon  of  sins  of  every  description,  and  confer- 
ring final  beatitude.  The  repetition  of  this  mystic  verse  at  once 
sets  the  offender  free,  and  assures  him  all  the  blessedness  of  the 
upper  world.  But  this  wonder-working  crucible,  in  which  sins 
of  the  most  obstinate  cast  are  fused  and  poured  out  as  a  pure 
oblation  to  the  gods,  is  kept  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the 
Brahmuns.  Whether  the  common  people  are  not  able  to  pay 
for  the  transmutation  of  their  baser  metals  into  gold,  by  the 
very  easy  method  held  out  to  them  by  this  philosopher's  stone, 


-.  .  : •.  ''V-v/v-;'/:-v;-';vj..-fcv; 

•   ,«C'\/*'*     '  ••**.'•»'••*.•/"    -A  TJL. '.    /- 

INDIA   AXD   ITS   PEOPLE.  V...f/.          321 

or  whether  they  practically  have  misgivings  in  respect  to  its  effi- 
cacy, I  know  not;  but  so  it  is,  that  they  resort  to  an  endless 
routine  of  atonements,  some  of  them  very  expensive,  and  most 
of  them  attended  with  great  bodily  mortifications. 

A  man  in  Bombay  has  been  performing  a  penance  of  a  very 
painful  character  for  sixteen  years.  lie  sits  in  a  miserable  shed, 
holding  on  his  left  hand  a  vessel  of  perhaps  ten  pounds'  weight, 
which  contains  the  sacred  shrub.  His  whole  arm  is  withered, 
and  the  finger  nails  have  shot  out  like  rain's  horns,  five  or  six 
inches  in  length.  It  is  confidently  afiirmed  by  the  people  about 
him,  that  he  never  leaves  this  spot,  nor  gives  himself  a  moment's 
respite  from  his  burden,  either  night  or  day.  But,  notwithstand- 
ing the  precautions  which  are  used  by  those  who  are  interested 
to  keep  up  the  farce,  this  man  has  been  seen  from  his  post, 
though  not  in  such  a  manner  as  to  forfeit,  in  the  estimation  of 
the  people,  his  character  for  sanctity.  He  is  considered  the  most 
holy  man  in  Bombay — there  is  no  doubt  he  is  the  proudest  man 
there.  In  a  village  not  two  miles  from  Ahmednuggur,  there  is 
an  ascetic,  who  is  said  to  carry  his  austerities  to  still  greater 
perfection.  His  friends  assert  of  him  that  he  has  actually  sub- 
sisted without  food  for  several  years. 

In  the  same  vicinity  I  knew  a  man,  about  two  years  ago,  to  sit 
in  the  jungle  for  three  months,  almost  naked,  during  the  coldest 
part  of  the  year.  He  selected  his  station  on  a  small  knoll,  at  a 
^  considerable  distance  from  any  dwelling,  drew  a  circle  with  his 
stick  about  eight  feet  in  diameter,  and  seated  himself  in  the  cen- 
tre. He  sat  there  in  a  perfect  state  of  listlessness,  (or,  as  the 
people  say,  in  a  state  of  the  most  profound  meditation  and  ab- 
sorption in  the  divinity,)  exposed  by  day  to  the  heat  of  a  tropical 
sun,  and  by  night  to  the  chilling  winds.  I  have  seen  him  late  of 
an  evening  and  early  of  a  morning,  and  I  am  much  inclined  to 
believe  that  he  seldom,  if  ever,  overstepped  the  narrow  limits  of 
his  circle.  He  subsisted  on  the  free-will  offerings  of  his  visitors. 
They  took  this  mode  of  making  themselves  partakers  of  the 
merit  of  his  austerities.  I  will  not  disgust  the  reader  by  attempt- 
21 


322  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

ing  to  describe  the  appearance  of  this  man,  or  of  the  place  which 
he  occupied,  as  I  beheld  it  at  the  expiration  of  three  months. 
The  reader  may  fancy  what  must  have  been  the  accumulation  of 
filth,  both  on  his  body  and  in  the  circle  about  him.  The  recol- 
lection of  his  unshorn  and  uncombed  hair  hanging  about  his 
shoulders,  matted  with  oil  and  dirt ;  his  tattered  old  cloth,  glazed 
with  the  accumulated  dirt  of  months,  and  perhaps  years,  and 
alive  with  vermin ;  and  the  place  where  he  sat  covered  with  the 
filth  of  three  months'  residence,  revive  in  my  mind,  even  at  this 
distant  period,  the  idea  of  one  of  the  most  disgusting  scenes  "I 
ever  beheld. 

Passing  a  rod  of  iron  through  the  tongue ;  hanging  suspended 
by  the  legs  from  a  tree  over  a  slow  burning  fire,  inhaling  the 
fumes  and  sparks;  leaping  on  a  plank  set  full  of  sharpened 
plates  of  iron ;  lying  on  a  bed  made  of  a  plank  set  with  iron 
spikes ;  looking  at  the  meridian  sun  for  whole  days  in  succession ; 
supporting  heavy  objects  with  the  extended  arm,  till  it  becomes 
withered;  measuring  a  specified  distance  with  one's  length; 
swinging  through  the  air  suspended  from  a  hook;  and  penances 
too  numerous  and  too  foolish  to  be  enumerated,  are  resorted  to 
as  expedients  for  taking  away  sin,  and  accumulating  righteous- 
ness. 

An  extraordinary  instance  of  "measuring  the  length,"  fell 
under  my  observation  about  two  years  ago,  on  the  road  between 
Poona  and  Ahmednuggur.  The  subject  of  this  penance  was  a 
poor,  decrepit  old  man.  When  he  had  once  prostrated  himself, 
he  had  scarcely  strength  to  raise  his  body  from  the  ground.  I 
watched  him  as  he  fell  on  his  face,  and  marked  with  a  short 
stick  where  he  was  to  place  his  foot  at  the  next  prostration,  and 
then  struggled  to  rise ;  and  never  have  I  witnessed  a  scene  which 
excited  my  pity  more.  Never  have  I  beheld  a  more  deluded 
Pagan,  or  one  apparently  more  honest  in  his  delusion.  An  old 
man,  just  tottering  over  his  grave,  a  worshiper  of  idols  for  more 
than  half  a  century,  an  inhabitant  of  a  village  where  the  light 
of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  had  not  yet  gleamed;  one  who, 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 


seemingly,  had  never  before  heard  the  efficacy  of  the  hollow  rites 
of  Brahmunism  to  take  away  sin  called  in  question,  now  stood 
before  me.  He  had  settled  all  his  worldly  affairs,  and  come  to 
the  determination  to  measure  his  length  to  Pundurpoor  by  Poona, 
a  distance  of  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles;  and  had 
now  come  seven  miles,  at  the  rate  of  one  mile  a  day.  I  interro- 
gated him  as  to  the  object  of  his  pilgrimage,  and  the  motives 
which  led  to  it.  I  remonstrated  with  him  on  the  folly,  as  well  as 
the  temerity  of  the  undertaking,  and  offered  him  some  money 
to  defray  his  expenses  if  he  would  return  to  his  family.  I  told 
him  he  could  never  expect  to  reach  Pundurpoor  now,  at  the 
commencement  of  the  monsoon,  and  feeble  as  he  was,  but  he 
must  expect  to  die  on  the  way.  All  this  was  in  vain.  He  said 
it  was  the  same  to  him,  whether  he  lived  or  died.  If  he  died, 
he  said,  it  was  in  a  good  cause.  I  have  never  met  with  so  striking 
an  instance  of  delusion  in  India.  It  would  be  curious  to  analyze 
the  motives  which  prompted  to  this  undertaking.  I  can  easily  con- 
ceive that  the  poor,  ignorant  man,  in  the  evening  of  life,  began 
to  feel  some  vague  dissatisfaction  with  his  past  religious  observ- 
ances, and  was  at  length  led,  either  by  his  own  reflections  or  by 
the  advice  of  his  gooroo,  to  adopt  this  plan  to  make  up  at  once 
for  all  past  delinquency,  by  a  most  severe  penance.  How  far  he 
believed  such  service  would  be  acceptable  with  God,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  say.  Still,  I  can  suppose  him  convinced  that  he  was 
$  performing  a  service  pleasing  to  God,  and  really  beneficial  to 
himself. 

Hook-swinging  I  mentioned  as  another  expedient.     While  on 
a  tour  in  the  Deckan,  I  witnessed  the  following  instance  of  this 

penance.     I  arrived  in  the  village  of  S about  eight  in  the 

morning.  When  I  had  breakfasted,  and  recovered  a  little  from 
the  fatigue  of  a  hot  morning's  ride,  I  sought  an  interview  with 
the  people ;  but,  to  my  no  small  disappointment,  I  found  that  the 
villagers  were  either  absent  or  in  such  a  state  of  excitement  as 
to  preclude  all  hope  of  being  able  to  gain  their  attention  that 
day.  On  inquiring  the  cause,  I  was  informed  that  there  was  to 


> 

324  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 


(hook-  swinging)  that  day,  in  the  vicinity;  and  all 
the  people  were,  on  that  account,  half  infatuated.  Babajee  and 
myself  at  once  determined  to  witness  the  scene,  and  persuade 
the  devotee,  if  possible,  from  swinging  ;  or,  at  least,  to  point  out 
to  the  multitude  a  more  excellent  way.  "We  accordingly  set  off. 
The  post  was  erected  on  the  top  of  an  oval  hill,  near  the  temple 
of  Kundooba,  about  two  miles  from  the  village.  Our  road  lay 
over  an  extensive  plain,  which  was  covered  with  a  moving  mass 
of  people,  winding  their  way,  from  every  direction,  towards  the 
hill.  There  were  not  less  than  a  dozen  villages  within  sight 
from  the  place  of  exhibition.  From  all  these,  and  others  at  a 
greater  distance,  the  inhabitants,  men,  women,  and  children, 
emerged  in  swarms,  until  every  road  and  every  by-way  were 
filled  with  the  passing  multitude,  and  the  w^hole  plain  seemed 
moving  towards  the  hill  in  its  centre.  One  feeling  seemed  to 
pervade  every  heart.  It  was  the  feeling  which  predominates 
with  the  rabble  at  a  fair  in  England,-  or  with  the  heterogeneous 
mass  seen  at  the  grog-shops  and  about  the  carts  at  a  general 
muster  in  America.  Amusement,  frivolity,  and  dissipation  are 
the  apparent  objects  of  pursuit.  .Not  the  semblance  of  devotional 
feeling,  not  the  decency  of  religious  propriety,  is  any  where  to  be 
discovered. 

We  ascended  the  hill.  It  was  already  literally  covered  with 
people.  A  procession  was  at  that  moment  moving  slowly  about 
the  temple.  A  band  of  native  musicians  preceded  them  with  the 
loud  tomtom,  and  other  rude  minstrelsy,  which  grated  no  less 
horribly  on  the  ear.  Next  followed  the  devotee  who  was  about 
to  swing.  He  was  naked,  save  a  stripe  about  his  loins.  About 
his  neck  was  a  garland  of  flowers;  his  body,  face,  arms,  and 
hair  were  besmeared  with  the  sacred  powder,  and  in  his  hand 
he  carried  a  poignard,  on  the  end  of  which  was  fixed  a  green 
lime.  Over  his  head  was  spread  a  coarse  canopy,  supported  by 
four  men.  The  procession  came  around  to  the  front  of  the  tem- 
ple, where  they  halted,  and  the  devotee  prostrated  himself  before 
the  god,  in  honor  of  whom  he  was  about  to  swing.  Thence  they 
proceeded  to  the  post,  which  had  been  erected  twenty  yards  in 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 


325 


front  of  the  temple.  After  circumambulating  this,  the  devotee 
was  presented  to  the  officiating  person,  to  receive  the  hooks 
in  his  hack.  We  embraced  this  opportunity  of  remonstrating 
with  the  deluded  man,  and  of  addressing  the  no  less  infatuated 
multitude.  All  availed  nothing  towards  dissuading  them  from 
the  performance  of  the  disgusting  rite.  They  soon  became  im- 
patient, and  we  found  it  prudent  to  desist.  The  officiator  (not 
a  Brahmun)  then  presented  the  hooks,  and  an  instrument  for 
piercing  the  skin  and  flesh,  for  their  more  easy  insertion.  He 
first  demanded  and  received  some  pice  from  the  devotee,  as  his 
fee ;  then,  bringing  the  ear  of  the  man  to  his  mouth,  he  gave  a 
most  terrific  scream  —  enough  to  stun  the  poor  fellow ;  and,  after 
performing  some  other  trifling  ceremonies,  he  took  up  some  dust 
from  the  ground,  directly  behind  the  devotee,  and  marked  the 
parts  of  the  small  of  the  back  where  the  hooks  were  to  be  in- 
serted. The  flesh  was  cut  and  the  hooks  inserted.  One  end 
of  the  traverse  beam,  which  turns  on  a  pivot,  and  from 
which  a  rope  is  suspended,  was  brought  down,  and  the  hooks 
made  fast  to  the  rope.  The  beam  was  then  brought  to  a 
level,  by  means  of  a  rope  suspended  from  the  other  extremity, 
which  consequently  brought  the  devotee  into  the  air,  and  set 
swinging  by  persons  employed  for  the  purpose.  With  one  hand 
he  supported  his  head  and  the  upper  part  of  the  body  in  an  up- 
right posture,  by  holding  fast  to  his  cloth,  which  had  been  sus- 
pended before  him  for  this  purpose  from  the  traverse  beam,  and 
with  the  other  hand  he  scattered  spices,  nuts,  and  flowers  to  the 
multitude,  who  joined  with  him  in  shouts  of  exultation. 

After  swinging  till  he  appeared  to  be  exhausted,  he  was  let 
down.  And  then  ensued  a  ridiculous  scene.  He  had  no  sooner 
reached  the  ground  than  the  coolies  who  swung  him  made  a  very 
hasty  and  rather  a  violent  demand  on  him  for  their  pay. 
Whether  their  demands  were  exorbitant,  or  whether  the  devotee 
thought  to  make  a  cheap  business  of  his  penance,  I  know  not. 
The  crowd  at  this  moment  became  so  great  as  to  press  me  beyond 
hearing  distance.  Perhaps  the  poor  fellows  knew  the  difficulty 


;£•;*"/.'• 

326  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

of  collecting  debts  for  such  service,  and  therefore  embraced  the 
present  as  a  favorable  opportunity.  Be  this  as  it  may,  a  tumult 
and  confusion  ensued.  The  vociferation  of  a  dozen  voices  at 
once,  concentrated  for  the  first  time  the  attention  of  the  multi- 
tude to  the  spot  of  exhibition.  It  all  ended  hi  words,  and  a  pay- 
ment of  the  price.  This  being  arranged,  the  man  retired  with 
his  friends  to  receive  their  congratulations.  After  a  few  mo- 
ments I  followed  him.  He  swung  in  fulfillment  of  a  vow  made 
when  dangerously  ill.  But  a  very  small  part  of  the  vast  multi- 
tude manifested  the  least  interest  in  the  swinging.  They  were 
buying  and  selling,  eating,  drinking,  smoking,  chewing  the  betel- 
nut,  laughing,  talking,  singing,  and  playing.  Every  nook  and 
corner  contained  some  one  who  sold  fruit,  sweetmeats,  pan- 
suparee,  and  the  like.  Every  one  kept  the  holiday  in  as  merry 
a  way  as  he  could.  If  viewed  as  a  carousal,  it  was  barbarous ; 
if  viewed  as  a  religious  act,  it  was  disgusting  and  abhorrent  to 
every  right  feeling  of  the  human  heart. 

Other  atonements,  or  expedients  for  gaining  merit,  relate  to 
practices  of  impurity,  which  belong  peculiarly  to  the  religious 
code  of  the  Hindoos.  A  Hindoo,  who  is  not  himself  a  proselyte 
to  these  particular  opinions,  might  not  say  that  he  should,  under 
present  circumstances,  be  benefited,  or  be  justified,  in  resorting 
to  such  atonement,  as  I  have  mentioned ;  while  at  the  same  time 
he  would  contend  that  these  practices  are  not  only  lawful,  but 
truly  beneficial  to  those  who,  hi  conformity  to  their  religious 
creed,  addict  themselves  to  them.  It  is  taught  hi  the  Pooranus 
and  Tuntrus,  and  known  to  be  acknowledged  and  practiced  by 
the  Hindoos,  that,  in  the  presence  of  some  of  the  most  celebrated 
idols  —  among  which  is  Juggunath  —  "all  distinctions  of  sex 
and  caste  are  abolished,  and  that  men  may,  in  this  situation, 
gratify  their  evil  lusts  with  impunity ;  and  that  they  permit  men 
to  violate  the  laws  of  chastity  under  the  pretence  of  blunting 
the  passions."*  The  Abbe  Dubois  mentions  several  temples,  where 

*  Wilson's  Exposure  of  Hindooism. 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  327 

public  prostitution  before  the  idol  is  practiced  as  the  most  effect- 
ual method  of  propitiating  the  deity. 

Too  much  has,  perhaps,  already  been  said  on  this  disgusting 
subject.  The  reader  will  excuse  me,  for  it  is  the  atonement  by 
which  every  system  of  salvation  must  be  judged,  and  by  which 
it  must  stand  or  fall.  And  in  thus  exhibiting  the  Hindoo  doc- 
trines of  atonement  for  sin,  I  effectually  introduce  the  reader 
into  the  very  spirit  and  essence  of  Hindooism. 

But  the  Brahmuns  shall  be  allowed  to  speak  for  themselves, 
that  I  may  escape  the  imputation  of  abuse  or  misrepresentation. 
The  following  are  a  few  specimens  of  the  daily  prayers  used  by 
the  Brahmuns.  "  These,"  says  a  writer  in  the  Calcutta  Christian 
Observer,  "  were  compiled  by  certain  pundits  from  the  Pooranus 
and  other  shastras,  held  sacred  by  the  Hindoos.  The  character 
of  these  petitions,  the  objects  to  whom  they  are  addressed,  and 
the  expected  efficacy  of  such  services,  form  a  very  correct  crite- 
rion by  which  we  may  judge  of  the  method  of  atonement  and 
forgiveness  of  sins  which  is  inculcated  among  the  Hindoos. 

PRATER  TO  BE  USED  WHEN  BATHING. 

"  O  Jahnavi !  that  didst  issue  from  the  feet  of  Yishnoo  in  three 
channels,  and  whose  streams  are  sacred,  remove  my  sin. 

"  I  am  sin,  I  commit  sin,  my  nature  is  sinful,  I  am  conceived  in 
ein.  O  Hurree !  do  thou  deliver  me  from  sin." 

PRAYER  AFTER   BATHING. 

"  Reverence  to  Gunga,  (Ganges,)  O  goddess !  queen  of  all  the 
'goddesses.  0  Bhagawata !  0  Gunga !  thou  art  the  savior  of  the 
three  worlds,  the  cause  of  motion  in  the  sea ;  thou  dwellest  in 
the  head  of  the  Sunkar;  0  thou  pure  being,  may  my  mind  repose 
at  thy  feet." 

"  O  Bhagnathi !  source  of  joy,  O  mother !  thy  praise  is  recorded 
in  the  Negama  shastras.  I  cannot  utter  thy  praise  ;  deliver  me 
from  my  ignorance.  0  Gunga !  pure  as  the  cold  moon  and  fair 
as  the  pearl  are  thy  waters.  Remove  far  from  me  the  weight  of  my 
sin,  and  convey  me  across  the  ocean  of  this  world." 


328  INDIA  AND   ITS  PEOPLE. 

"Such  is  the  purity  of  thy  waters,  that  those  who  drink 
thereof  will  be  promoted.  O  mother !  those  who  trust  in  thee 
shall  not  see  death."  .«&  ,*h*»e 

"  0  Jahnavi !  thou  deliverest  from  hell :  thou  destroyest  sin. 
Thy  waters  are  mighty ;  thy  form  is  radiant,  O  Gunga !  0  vic- 
torious Jahnavi!  0  sacred  river!  thou  glancest  with  an  eye  of 
pity  on  the  devoted  worshipers.  The  pearl  in  the  crown  of 
Hurree  reflects  its  lustre  on  thy  feet.  Thou  bestowest  sons  and 
conferrest  prosperity  on  those  who  seek  thee.  O  destroy  within 
me  disease,  grief,  sin,  anger,  and  all  other  evils.  Thou  art  the 
essence  of  three  worlds !  thou  surroundest  the  world  as  a  garland. 
They  who  in  their  heart  put  their  trust  in  thee,  will  always 
enjoy  bliss  and  freedom.  The  words  of  these  prayers  impart  bliss 
to  the  soul,  they  drop  as  honey  from  the  honeycomb." 


PKAISE   TO   GUNGA. 

"  Gunga  effectually  removes  sin,  quickly  destroys  sorrows, 
gives  joy  and  freedom,  and  is  our  chief  refuge.  Having  repeated 
this,  the  worshiper  bows  to  the  river." 

"They  who  repeat  the  names  of  Gunga  within  a  hundred 
yojunas  (900  miles),  obtain  emancipation  and  pardon  of  all  their 
sins,  together  with  admission  into  the  heaven  of  vaicantu." 

Here  follow  many  others  of  similar  import.  But  it  is  useless 
to  transcribe  them.  The  ground  of  their  atonement  is  works. 
The  river  Guuga,  or  any  other  imaginary  god  or  goddess,  grants 
absolution  to  all  who  repeat  his  names. 

"Works  of  supererogation  likewise  are  allowed  a  place  in  the 
expiatory  system  of  the  Brahmun.  By  works,  a  man  may 
not  only  atone  for  his  own  sins,  and  secure  a  sufficiency  of 
righteousness  for  himself,  but  he  may  accumulate  a  stock  of 
merit,  which  may,  if  well  paid  for,  be  transferred  to  others. 

I  have  heard  different  natives  repeat  the  following  anecdote  of 
Bajee  Row,  late  Peshwa  at  Poona.  As  it  furnishes  an  extraor- 
dinary example  of  this  kind  of  traffic,  I  will  relate  it.  The 
Peshwa  was  a  very  profligate  character.  Business  and  dissipa- 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  329 

tion  gave  him  no  time,  if  ever  he  had  the  inclination,  to  go 
through  the  tedious  routine  of  austerities  which  the  most  liberal 
Brahmun  would  have  pronounced  necessary  to  the  expiation  of 
such  a  man's  sins.  On  a  certain  occasion,  the  Peshwa  adopted  a 
summary  way  of  liquidating  the  whole  debt  at  once,  and  still 
reserving  in  store  a  stock  for  future  emergencies.  It  was  re- 
ported to  him  that  a  devotee  of  very  extraordinary  sanctity  had 
come  to  Poona,  and  was  there  performing  marvelous  a^ts  of 
mortification.  Bajee  Row  immediately  requested  an  interview 
with  the  reputed  saint,  and  soon  struck  a  bargain  for  his  whole 
stock  of  righteousness,  for  which  he  gave  the  moderate  sum  of 
25,000  rupees.  «Q  1 

This  same  Bajee  Row  was  without  issue.  This,  with  a  com- 
mon Hindoo,  is  a  subject  of  endless  regret;  but  with  the  usurper 
of  the  throne  of  the  Deckan,  it  was  infinitely  more  lamented. 
Offerings  had  been  made  to  every  idol  famed  for  remedying  such 
calamities,  pilgrimages  performed,  the  muntru  tried,  and  all 
the  ordinary  expedients  resorted  to,  but  in  vain.  When  all  de- 
vices had  failed,  when  Brahminical  ingenuity  was  almost  ex- 
hausted, one,  more  sagacious  than  his  fellows,  declared  to  the 
Peshwa  that  the  circumambulating  of  two  mountains,  not  a  great 
distance  from  Poona,  by  a  great  number  of  Brahmuns,  would  be 
an  undertaking  of  extraordinary  merit,  and  in  all  probability 
would  prove  efficacious  in  the  case  in  question.  A  great  number 
of  Brahmuns,  some  hundreds  it  is  said,  were  accordingly  called, 
their  labor  defined,  their  wages  appointed  them,  and  they  were 
sent  forth  to  their  work.  One  of  these  mountains  was  eighteen 
miles  in  circumference,  and  the  other  nine.  Each  Brahmun  was 
to  make  one  circuit  around  his  respective  mountain  daily.  They 
continued  their  task  for  a  long  time,  received  their  pay,  but  the 
Peshwa  remained  childless.  There  was  some  defect  in  the  pro- 
ceedings. Probably  the  Brahmuns  had  not  all  been  duly  puri- 
fied, or  the  Peshwa  had  no  faith.  No  one,  I  believe,  ever 
doubted  the  efficacy  of  the  transaction,  or  its  adaptation  to 
accomplish  the  desired  end. 

The  above  story  was  related  to  me  by  Babajee,  who  was  him- 


330  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

self  one  of  the  Brahmuns  employed  to   circumambulate  the 
mountains. 

Such  acts  and  penances  are  performed  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Brahmuns;  and  I  need  not  say  the  object  of  them  is  their  own 
emolument.  Nor  are  these  modest  priests  satisfied  to  risk  the 
enforcing  of  their  pretended  claims  on  the  fragile  foundation  of 
temporal  penalties  and  bodily  inflictions.  Future  rewards  and 
punioiiments  are  almost  entirely  made  to  depend  on  the  observ- 
ance or  the  non-observance  of  Brahminical  injunctions.  A 
falsehood  told  for  the  benefit  of  a  Brahmun  is  meritorious ;  to 
injure  a  Brahmun  in  any  way,  is  one  of  the  most  heinous  sins.  I 
have  selected  the  following  as  a  specimen  of  the  kind  and  the 
degree  of  punishment  which  is  threatened  on  the  poor  Hindoo 
for  comparatively  trivial  offenses,  when  committed  against  a 
Brahmun  —  offenses  which,  in  other  cases,  are,  in  this  country, 
considered  perfectly  justifiable : 

"  An  author  in  a  Hindoo  book  (I  quote  the  Abbe  Dubois)  de- 
clares, among  other  things,  that  he  who  breaks  his  word  with  a 
Brahmun,  or  occasions  him  any  detriment,  directly  or  indirectly, 
in  his  temporal  concerns,  will  be  condemned  in  his  second  birth 
to  become  a  devil.  He  will  not  be  permitted  to  dwell  on  the 
earth  or  live  in  the  air ;  but  will  be  obliged  to  make  his  abode  in 
a  thick  forest,  among  the  branches  of  a  bushy  tree,  where  he 
shall  never  cease  to  groan  by  night  and  day,  cursing  his  unhappy 
lot,  and  deprived  of  all  aliment  but  stinking  toddy,  mixed  with 
the  slaver  of  a  dog,  which  he  shall  drink  out  of  the  skull  of  a 
death's  head. 

"  It  is  in  this  way  that  offenses,  imaginary  or  of  small  account, 
are  menaced  with  endless  punishment  after  death,  by  the  direc- 
tion of  the  popular  faith ;  while  adulterers,  perjurers,  and  rob- 
bers, and  other  real  offenders,  are  absolved  by  the  Brahmuns  of 
their  actual  crimes,  for  selfish  objects,  and  assured  of  a  recom- 
pense after  death,  which  should  pertain  exclusively  to  virtue." 


*.•  'if:. 

-. '  •    i. 


INDIA  ANB  ITS   PEOPLE.  381 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 


Religious  Orders — Ascetics — Mendicants  —  Beggars — Their  Character  and  mode  of 
Life — Their  Influence  over  the  People. 

THE  reader  of  foreign  intelligence,  I  am  well  aware,  often  feels 
a  difficulty  arising  from  the  use  of  unknown  terms,  which  are 
sometimes  carelessly  and  sometimes  unavoidably  used  by  the 
writer.  He  speaks  of  a  puntojee,  a  pundit,  a  bungalow,  and 
the  like,  as  familiarly  as  a  writer  at  home  would  use  the  corre- 
sponding terms,  a  teacher  of  languages,  a  schoolmaster,  and  a 
house ;  while  many  of  his  readers  are  completely  non-plussed  at 
these  sonorous  words.  I  do  not  propose  here  to  supply  the  reader 
with  a  glossary  of  terms  in  general ;  but  having  before  me  a 
paper  prepared  by  a  learned  Brahmun,  which  contains  an  ex- 
planation of  the  several  appellations,  practices,  and  employments 
of  the  different  orders  of  Hindoo  devotees  and  ascetics,  I  shall 
translate  it  for  his  benefit,  giving  him  timely  notice  not  to  pro- 
ceed, unless  he  have  the  interest  or  curiosity  to  bear  with  a  few 
more  hard  names.  "We  hear  of  yoogees,  gosawees,  byragees, 
etc.,  and,  for  the  want  of  some  distinctive  idea,  we  get  no  idea 
at  all  of  this  important  and  extensive  class  of  Hindoos.  The 
majority  of  our  readers  may  wish  only  to  know  that  they  are  a 
kind  of  bigot,  or  hermit,  or  hypocrite ;  while  others,  who  regard 
the  Hindoos  as  they  really  are,  a  large  and  interesting  portion  of 
the  human  family  —  an  open  volume,  from  which  he  may  read 
human  nature  in  its  most  deplorable  form  —  and  those  who  re- 
gard Brahmunism  as  the  most  extraordinary  monument  of  priest- 
craft, of  wordly  wisdom,  and  human  folly  which  the  world  ever 
witnessed,  will  be  happy  to  avail  themselves  of  any  farther 
means  of  becoming  acquainted  with  so  essential  a  part  of  Hindoo 
mythology. 

Ascetics  are  divided  into  different  orders,  says  the  Brahmun, 
according  to  their  caste.  I  shall  here  mention  their  respective 
castes,  offices,  habits,  and  modes  of  life.  The  first  four  classes 


332  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

are  of  the  Brahman  caste.  The  life  of  a  Brahmun  is  divided 
into  five  parts :  First,  childhood,  or  the  period  till  the  investiture 
with  the  sacred  thread.  This  period  may,  on  an  average,  be 
reckoned  at  about  twelve  years.  Second,  Brumuchuree,  another 
period  of  twelve  years  from  the  investiture.  This  is  the  period 
for  study,  and  the  acquisition  of  a  knowledge  of  the  shastras. 
During  this  period,  the  young  Brahmun  is  required  sacredly  to 
abstain  from  women,  to  give  himself  exclusively  to  the  study  of 
the  vedas,  and  to  speak  the  truth.  A  Brumuchuree  is  also  a  Brah- 
mun, who  religiously  abstains  (professes  to  abstain)  from  sexual 
commerce  through  life. 

The  next  Brahminical  grade  is  the  Gruhusth.  The  Brahmun 
may  now  marry  and  look  after  his  domestic  affairs,  always  re- 
maining intent,  however,  on  the  worship  of  the  gods,  and  invio- 
lably speaking  the  truth.  This  period  continues  twelve  years. 
Then  follows  the  Wanprusth,  when  the  Brahmun  must  abandon 
his  house,  his  wife,  and  family,  and  betake  himself  to  the  jungle, 
absorb  himself  in  contemplation,  exist  on  roots,  nuts,  and  wild 
fruits,  and  continually  worship  God.  The  principal  thing  to  be 
obtained  now,  is  the  subjugation  of  the  passions.  This  is  done 
by  the  practice  of  the  "  six  duties,"  viz :  shumu,  (apathy,  stoi- 
cism ;)  dumu,  (government  of  senses  and  animal  appetites ;)  tupu, 
(the  practice  of  mortification  and  austerities ;)  tiliksha,  (patience, 
sufferance,  endurance  of  the  good  and  evil  of  natural  life;) 
shudda,  (reverential  faith  in  the  shastras ;)  and  summadhan,  (re- 
straining the  mind  from  external  objects,  and  fixing  it  steadfastly 
in  contemplation.) 

These  six  duties  are  doubtless  intended  as  counterparts  to  six 
radical  evils  of  human  nature,  which  every  Brahmun  will  tell 
you  "  flesh  is  heir  to,"  viz :  kam,  krodh,  lobh,  mohu,  mudu,  mut- 
sur,  or  lust,  anger,  'covetousness,  the  pride  of  life,  intoxication, 
and  envy.  "We  are  not  told  by  the  sages  of  India  how  the  Brah- 
mun, at  this  period,  is  to  dispose  of  his  wife  and  family.  Every 
Brahmun  is  bound  by  his  religion  to  pursue  this  course.  But, 
happily  for  their  families  and  for  society,  this  injunction,  like 

.*•">*>  ,****&*.•  4, 


IXDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

most  of  the  precepts  of  their  sacred  books,  is  unheeded.  All  these 
things  yield  to  inclination  and  circumstances. 

The  last  stage  of  the  Brahmun's  life  is  that  of  the  sunyasee. 
He  is  now  to  make  a  final  renunciation  of  all  worldly  hopes,  put 
Dn  the  red-ochre  colored  clothes,  take  his  staff  and  his  earthen 
cup,  and  wander  about  as  a  mendicant,  devoting  himself  wholly 
and  constantly  to  Narayun  (a  name  of  Vishnoo).  He  must  have 
no  fixed  habitation,  pursue  no  occupation,  nor  receive  the  neces- 
sary supplies  of  food  and  clothing  in  any  particular  place,  nor 
remain  constantly  in  any  one  village.  He  must  now  be  entirely 
devoted  to  the  performance  of  the  "  six  duties." 

Every  Brahmun  is  supposed  to  be  consecrated  to  religion,  and 
nominally  belongs  to  one  of  the  above-mentioned  orders,  accord- 
ing to  his  age ;  while,  at  the  same  tune,  those  who  wish  to  de- 
vote themselves  to  another  order,  either  for  life  or  for  a  definite 
period,  are  at  liberty  to  do  so.  Accordingly,  there  are  Brahmuns 
among  the  Gosawees  and  other  orders  of  ascetics,  as  will  be  seen 
below. 

Gosawees,  among  Brahmuns,  are  those  who  gain  their  liveli- 
hood by  chanting  the  names  and  celebrating  the  praises  of  Hur- 
ree  (Vishnoo)  ;  who,  with  repentance  for  sin,  remain  constant  in 
the  worship  of  the  deity,  and  who  regard  not  the  favor  of  man. 
But  Gosawees,  among  Shoodras,  are  somewhat  different.  They 
are  worshipers  of  Shiva,  and  dress  in  dirty  ochre-colored  clothes, 
or  go  naked.  They  abandon  their  homes  and  families,  go  from 
country  to  country,  visit  every  holy  place  and  sacred  stream,  and 
profess  to  devote  themselves  wholly  to  the  service  of  their  god. 
Some  of  these  live  on  charity,  and  lead  a  life  of  great  austerity, 
while  others  enjoy  the  revenue  of  certain  towns  and  villages, 
which  have  been  made  over  to  them  on  account  of  their  reputed 
sanctity,  and  which  descend  from  father  to  son  by  virtue  of  in- 
heritance. Shoodra  Gosawees  are  divided  into  a  great  number 
of  classes,  as  the  Giree,  the  Poree,  the  Bharutee,  the  Gorkh- 
puntee,  &c.,  which  differ  only  in  some  minor  peculiarity  of  dress 
or  mode  of  life.  The  general  characteristics  of  a  Gosawee  are 
the  ochre-colored  dress,  the  long,  uncombed,  dirty,  matted  hair, 


334  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

the  staff  or  bar  of  iron  set  round  with  rings,  and  the  earthen  or 
metallic  vessel. 

Byragees  are  worshipers  of  Vishnoo.  They  must  renounce 
lust,  anger,  and  hope,  wander  about,  sometimes  naked,  sometimes 
clad,  and  visit  holy  places  and  sacred  streams.  They  subsist  by 
begging,  and  professedly  continue  constant  in  the  worship  of  the 
deity.  Some  of  them  enjoy  the  revenue  of  villages,  given  as 
above  mentioned,  and  some  are  Yogees. 

Yogees  are  those  who,  suspending  the  breath,  abstracting 
the  mind,  and  restraining  all  natural  desires,  absorb  themselves 
in  Brahmu,  or  Universal  Being;  and  by  destroying  all  human 
feelings  and  desires,  by  abstract  meditation  and  self-forgetfulness, 
they  seek  absorption  in  the  divine  nature.  The  merit  of  all  per- 
formances depends  very  much  on  the  attitudes  and  postures  in 
which  the  devotee  stands  or  sits.  Of  these,  no  less  than  eighty- 
four  are  mentioned. 

Jungums  are  followers  of  Shiva,  and  worshipers  of  the  Lin- 
gam.  They  may  be  regarded  as  the  Gooroos  of  the  Lingites, 
and  are  said  to  be  in  a  state  of  hostility  to  all  castes,  but  espe- 
cially hate  the  Brahmuns.  They  do  not  wear  the  tuft,  or  lock 
of  hair  on  the  top  of  the  head,  which  is  common  to  the  Hindoos ; 
and,  Shiva  excepted,  they  acknowledge  no  deity.  They  live  by 
begging,  and  carry  in  their  hands  a  metallic  image  of  the  bull, 
which  possesses  the  wonderful  property  of  deciphering  men's 
destinies. 

Duwures  are  the  worshipers  of  Bhyruwu,  and  mendicants 
who  live  on  charity,  and  dance  and  carouse  in  honor  of  their 
deity. 

Gondhulees,  who  devote  themselves  to  the  worship  of  the 
goddess,  which  they  perform  by  the  observance  of  tumultuous 
festivities.  They  beg  in  the  name  and  for  the  honor  of  the 


Nonukuputee,  ascetics  devoid  of  hope  and  desire;  morose 
beggars,  who  go  about  in  the  garb  of  a  Fakir,  (Mohammedan 
saint,)  repeating  the  names  of  the  gods.  They  carry  in  their 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  335 

hands  the  tipuree,  (a  small  vessel,)  which  they  present  from  house 
to  house,  and  from  shop  to  shop,  to  receive  pice. 

Bootyas  —  devotees  of  the  goddess  of  Bhuwanee.  They  go 
about  begging,  decorated  with  shells,  their  clothes  soiled  with 
oil,  and  a  torch  in  their  hand. 

Bhoopees  are  worshipers  of  the  goddess,  who  make  a  vow  to 
subsist  on  the  eleemosynary  contributions  which  are  voluntarily 
made  to  them.  But  they  must  not  beg. 

Wangees  are  devotees  of  Khundoba,  and  do  not  regard 
caste.  They  carry  about  tumeric  powder  in  the  skin  of  the  wag, 
(tiger,)  which  they  give  to  the  people,  declaring  it  to  be  a  mark 
of  the  divine  favor.  They  worship  Khundoba,  and  ask  alms  in 
the  name  of  Mullaree,  a  form  of  Khundoba.  Among  these  dev- 
otees are  to  be  classed  those  females  who,  when  young,  are  de- 
voted by  their  parents  to  this  god ;  and  such,  also,  as  in  after  life 
leave  their  husbands,  and  give  themselves  up  to  him.  Such  are 
the  women  at  Jejury,  who  have  been  mentioned  under  the  head 
of  holy  places.  They  are  called  Bhaweenee,  from  the  god 
Bhawu,  Faith!  And  if  I  may  judge  from  the  Hindoo  proverb, 
they  are  the  most  common  prostitutes  in  the  country.  Of  a  thing 
which  is  so  common  that  any  one  may  take  it  up  and  use  it 
without  asking  the  consent  of  the  owner,  the  Hindoos  say,  "It  is 
Bhaweeneecha  kasota"  that  is,  common  as  the  lower  garment  of  the 
Bhaween.  These  women,  after  quitting  their  husbands,  are  ded- 
icated to  the  god,  by  pouring  oil  over  their  heads,  from  the  lamp 
before  the  idol. 

Gooruwus  are  worshipers  of  Shiva  or  Hunooman,  who  do  the 
service  of  the  temple ;  such  as  sweeping  it,  attending  on  the  idol, 
etc.  They  live  on  offerings  made  to  the  god.  In  small  villages 
they  are  usually  Shoodras ;  in  towns,  Brahmuns. 

Some  persons  become  ascetics  by  inheritance,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, enjoy  cetain  revenues;  some  become  such  through  neces- 
sity; others,  on  account  of  their  extraordinary  sanctity  and  ab- 
straction from  the  world,  as  they  fain  would  have  it ;  others,  on 
account  of  a  vow,  devote  themselves  to  a  religious  life.  Most  of 
them  pretend  to  be  gooroos,  religious  teachers.  The  Hindoos 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

entertain  the  notion,  not  peculiar  to  them,  however,  that  religion 
is  some  wild  vagary,  attainable  only  by  priests  and  devotees,  but 
not  practicable  for  people  in  common  life  and  engaged  in  the 
business  of  the  world.  I  have  often  heard  Brahmuns  ask  Babajee 
how  it  was  that  he  professed  to  be  a  worshiper  of  the  invisible 
God,  and  to  be  possessed  of  a  knowledge  of  divine  things,  and 
still  he  lived  in  his  house,  enjoyed  the  comforts  of  domestic  life, 
and  wore  the  turban  and  the  common  dress.  "  If  you  will  be 
religious,"  said  they,  "  take  your  staff  and  your  gourd-shell,  and  put 
on  the  devotee's  garb." 

The  following  quotations  from  Dow's  History  of  Hindoostan 
will  form  a  good  practical  supplement  to  this  article.  While 
they  impart  a  few  additional  facts,  they  will  also  illustrate  and 
corroborate  what  I  have  already  said: 

"  The  Sunyasees,"  by  which  he  denominates  devotees  in  gen- 
eral, "  are  a  set  of  mendicant  philosophers,  commonly  known  by 
the  name  of  Fakirs,  which  literally  signifies,  poor  people.  These 
idle  and  pretended  devotees  assemble  sometimes  in  armies  of  ten 
or  twelve  thousand,  and,  under  pretense  of  making  pilgrimages 
to  certain  temples,  lay  whole  countries  under  contribution.  These 
saints  wear  no  clothes,  are  generally  robust,  and  convert  the  wives 
of  the  less  holy  part  of  mankind  to  their  own  use,  upon  their 
religious  progresses.  They  admit  any  man  of  parts  into  their 
number,  and  they  take  great  care  to  instruct  their  disciples  in 
every  branch  of  knowledge,  to  make  the  order  the  more  revered 
among  the  vulgar. 

"  When  this  naked  army  of  robust  saints  direct  their  march 
to  any  temple,  the  men  of  the  province  through  which  their  road 
lies  very  often  fly  before  them,  notwithstanding  the  sanctified 
character  of  the  Fakirs.  But  the  women  are,  in  general,  more 
resolute,  and  not  only  remain  in  their  dwellings,  but  apply  fre- 
quently for  the  prayers  of  these  holy  persons,  which  are  found  to 
be  most  effectual  in  case  of  sterility.  AVhen  a  Fakir  is  at 
prayers  with  the  lady  of  the  house,  he  leaves  either  his  slipper  or 
his  staff  at  the  door,  which,  if  seen  by  the  husband,  effectually 
prevents  him  from  disturbing  their  devotion.  But  should  he  be 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  337 

so  unfortunate  as  not  to  mind  these  signals,  a  sound  drubbing  is 
the  inevitable  consequence  of  his  intrusion. 

"  Though  the  Fakirs  enforce  with  their  arms  that  reverence 
which  the  people  of  Hindoostan  have,  naturally,  for  their  order, 
they  inflict  voluntary  penances  of  a  very  extraordinary  kind  on 
themselves  to  gain  more  respect.  These  fellows  sometimes  hold 
up  one  arm,  in  a  fixed  position,  till  it  becomes  stiff,  and  remains 
in  that  situation  during  the  rest  of  their  lives.  Some  clench 
their  fists  very  hard,  and  keep  them  so  till  their  nails  grow  into 
their  palms,  and  appear  through  the  back  of  their  hands.  Others 
turn  their  faces  over  their  shoulder,  and  keep  them  in  that  situa- 
tion till  they  fix  for  ever  their  heads  looking  backwards.  Many 
turn  their  eyes  to  the  point  of  their  nose,  till  they  have  lost  the 
power  of  looking  in  any  other  direction.  These  last  pretend  to 
see  what  they  call  the  sacred  fire ;  which  vision,  no  doubt,  pro- 
ceeds from  some  disorder  arising  from  the  distortion  of  the  optic 
nerve. 

"  Some  of  these  men  are  really  what  they  seem,  enthusiasts ; 
but  others  put  on  the  character  of  sanctity  as  a  cloak  for  their 
pleasures  [and  their  crimes].  But  what  actually  makes  them  a 
public  nuisance,  and  the  aversion  of  poor  husbands,  is,  that  the 
women  think  they  derive  some  holiness  to  themselves  from  an 
intimacy  with  a  Fakir. 

"  Many  other  foolish  customs  besides  those  we  have  mentioned, 
are  peculiar  to  these  religious  mendicants.  But  enthusiastic  pen- 
ances are  not  confined  to  them  alone.  Some  of  the  vulgar,  on 
the  fast  of  Opposs,  suspend  themselves  on  iron  hooks,  by  the  flesh 
of  the  shoulder  blade,  to  the  end  of  the  beam.  The  beam  turns 
round  with  great  velocity  upon  a  pivot,  on  the  head  of  the  pole. 
The  enthusiast  not  only  seems  insensible  of  pain,  but  very  often 
blows  a  trumpet,  as  he  is  whirled  above,  and  at  certain  intervals 
sings  a  song  to  the  gaping  multitude  below,  who  very  much  ad- 
mire his  fortitude  and  devotion.  This  ridiculous  custom  is  kept 
up  to  commemorate  the  sufferings  of  a  martyr,  who  was  in  that 
manner  tortured  for  his  faith." 

In  another  part  of  the  same  history,  the  author  gives  a  most 
22 


338  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

ludicrous  account  of  an  army  of  these  Fakirs,  headed  by  an  old 
woman,  attacking  the  great  Mogul,  at  Delhi.  "  The  security," 
says  he,  "which  Aurungzebe  had  acquired  by  the  defeat  of  so 
many  formidable  rivals,  was  disturbed  from  a  quarter  which 
added  ridicule  to  danger.  In  the  territory  of  the  prince  of  Mar- 
war,  near  the  city  of  Nuggur,  there  lived  an  old  woman  who  had 
arrived  at  the  eightieth  year  of  her  age.  She  possessed  a  consid- 
erable hereditary  estate,  and  had  accumulated  by  penury  a  great 
sum  of  money.  Being  seized  with  a  fit  of  enthusiasm,  she  be- 
came all  of  a  sudden  prodigal  of  her  wealth.  Fakirs  and 
sturdy  beggars,  under  a  pretense  of  religion,  to  the  number  of 
five  thousand,  gathered  around  her  castle,  and  received  her 
bounty.  These  vagabonds,  not  satisfied  with  what  the  old  woman 
bestowed  in  charity,  armed  themselves,  and,  making  predatory 
excursions  into  the  country,  returned  with  spoil  to  the  house  of 
their  patroness,  where  they  mixed  intemperance  and  riot  with 
devotion.  The  people,  oppressed  by  these  holy  robbers,  rose 
upon  them,  but  were  defeated  with  great  slaughter. 

"  Repeated  disasters  of  the  same  kind  were  at  last  attributed 
to  the  power  of  enchantment.  The  ridiculous  opinion  gaining 
ground,  fear  became  predominant  in  the  opponents  of  the  Fa- 
kirs. The  banditti,  acquiring  confidence  from  their  success, 
burned  and  destroyed  the  country  for  many  leagues,  and  sur- 
rounded the  castle  of  the  pretended  enchantress  with  a  desert. 
The  raja  marched  against  them  with  his  native  troops,  but  was 
defeated ;  the  collectors  of  the  imperial  revenue  attacked  them, 
but  they  were  forced  to  give  way.  A  report  prevailed,  and  was 
eagerly  believed  by  the  multitude,  that,  on  a  certain  day  of  the 
moon,  the  old  lady  used  to  cook,  in  the  skull  of  an  enemy,  a  mess 
composed  of  owls,  bats,  snakes,  lizards,  human  flesh,  and  other 
horrid  ingredients,  which  she  distributed  to  her  followers.  The 
abominable  meal,  it  was  believed  by  the  rabble,  had  the  surpris- 
ing efiect  of  not  only  rendering  them  void  of  all  fear  themselves, 
an<ji  inspiring  their  enemies  with  terror,  but  even  of  making  them 
invisible  in  the  hour  of  battle  when  they  dealt  their  deadly  blows 
around. 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

"  Their  numbers  being  now  increased  to  twenty  thousand,  this 
motley  army,  with  the  old  woman  at  their  head,  directed  their 
march  toward  the  capital.  Bistumia  (for  this  was  her  name)  was 
a  commander  full  of  cruelty.  She  covered  her  route  with  mur- 
der and  devastation ;  and  had  her  rear  in  the  smoke  of  burning 
villages  and  towns.  Having  advanced  to  Narnoul,  about  five 
days'  journey  from  Agra,  the  collector  of  the  revenue  attacked 
her  with  a  force,  and  was  totally  defeated.  The  affair  had  now 
become  serious,  and  commanded  the  attention  of  the  emperor. 
He  found  that  the  minds  of  the  soldiers  were  tainted  with  the 
prejudices  of  the  people,  and  he  thought  it  necessary  to  combat 
Bistumia  with  weapons  like  her  own.  The  emperor,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  army,  delivered  to  his  general  billets  written  with  his 
own  hand,  which  were  said  to  contain  magical  enchantments.  His 
reputation  for  sanctity  was,  at  least,  equal  to  that  of  Bistumia ; 
and  he  ordered  a  billet  to  be  carried  on  the  point  of  a  spear  be- 
fore each  squadron,  which,  the  soldiers  were  made  to  believe, 
would  counteract  the  enchantment  of  the  enemy.  The  credulity 
which  induced  them  to  dread  the  witchcraft  of  the  old  woman 
gave  them  confidence  in  the  pretended  charm  of  Aurungzebe. 

"  The  Fakirs,  after  their  victory  at  Narnoul,  thought  of 
nothing  but  the  empire  for  their  aged  leader.  Having  rioted  on 
the  country  for  several  days,  they  solemnly  raised  Bistumia  to 
the  throne,  which  gave  them  an  excuse  for  festivity.  In  the 
midst  of  their  intemperate  joy,  Sujait,  the  imperial  general, 
made  his  appearace.  They  fought  with  the  fury  of  fanatics ;  but 
when  the  idea  of  supernatural  aid  was  dispelled  from  the  minds 
of  the  imperialists,  the  Fakirs  were  not  a  match  for  their 
swords.  It  was  not  a  battle,  but  a  confused  carnage  —  a  few 
owed  their  lives  to  the  mercy  of  Sujait;  the  rest  met  the  death 
which  they  deserved.  Aurungzebe,  when  he  received  Sujait  after 
his  victory,  could  not  help  smiling  at  the  ridicule  thrown  on  his 
arms  by  the  opposition  of  an  old  woman  at  the  head  of  a  naked 
army  of  mendicants." 

And  here  I  must  again  quote  Bernier.  His  description  of 
Yogees  is  much  to  the  life,  and  possesses  the  further  merit  of  ex- 


840  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE 

hibiting  the  manners  of  this  class  of  people  as  they  were  nearly 
two  centuries  ago,  and  as  they  now  are,  that  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
extend  this  article  a  few  paragraphs. 

"  Among  the  infinity  and  great  diversity  of  devotees  of  India, 
there  are  numbers  who  inhabit  a  kind  of  convent,  in  which  there 
are  superiors,  and  where  they  make  vows  of  chastity,  poverty 
and  obedience,  and  who  lead  so  strange  a  life,  that  I  know  not 
whether  you  will  be  inclined  to  believe  it.  These  are  commonly 
distinguished  by  the  appellation  of  Yogees ;  a  great  number  of 
whom  are  to  be  seen  parading  about,  or  sitting  almost  naked,  or 
lying  down  night  and  day  on  ashes,  and  generally  under  the 
branches  of  large  trees,  which  are  on  the  borders  of  tanks  or 
reservoirs,  or  else  in  the  galleries  which  surround  the  temples. 
Some  have  their  hair  hanging  to  their  very  knees,  twisted  or 
plaited  together  like  the  hair  of  our  spaniels.  There  is  no  one 
of  the  fairies  of  hell  so  horrible  to  behold  as  these  people  all 
bare,  with  their  black  skin,  long  hair,  spindle  arms,  and  in  the 
posture  I  have  mentioned,  with  their  immense  crooked  nails. 

"  I  have  often  met  in  the  country,  chiefly  in  the  territories  of 
the  rajas,  whole  bands  of  these  Fakirs  in  a  complete  state  of 
nudity,  and  quite  appalling  to  the  sight.  Some  hold  their  arms 
extended;  others  had  their  hideous  hair  hanging  in  disorder 
about  them,  or  else  bound  round  their  heads ;  some  had  a  kind 
of  Herculean  club  hi  their  hands;  others  had  large,  dry,  stifl' 
tigers'  skins  over  their  shoulders.  Thus  I  beheld  them  pass, 
with  the  most  shameless  audacity,  through  the  midst  of  the  vil- 
lage. I  could  not  but  admire  the  cool  indifference  with  which 
the  men,  women  and  children  regarded  them :  with  no  other 
emotion  than  when  so  many  hermits  pass  through  the  streets ; 
and  how  devoutly  the  women  presented  to  them  alms,  consider- 
ing them,  no  doubt,  hi  the  light  of  holy  personages,  and  wiser 
and  superior  to  the  rest  of  mankind. 

"  I  saw,  not  very  long  ago,  a  famous  one  at  Delhi,  called  Sar- 
met,  who  went  naked  through  the  streets,  and  who  had  rather 
suffer  his  neck  to  be  severed  from  his  body  than  permit  himself 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 
I 

to  be  clothed,  what  promises  or  threats  soever  the  Emperor  Au- 
rungzebe  might  make  him. 

"  I  had  seen  several,  who,  through  devotion,  went  long  pil- 
grimages, not  only  altogether  bare,  but  loaded  with  large  iron 
chains,  similar  to  those,  though  not  so  heavy,  which  are  put 
about  the  feet  of  elephants ;  others  who,  from  a  particular  vow, 
stood  for  the  space  of  seven  or  eight  days  successively  erect  on 
their  legs,  which  became,  in  consequence,  swollen  as  large  as 
their  thigh ;  others,  again,  stood  for  whole  hours  on  their  heads, 
without  wavering,  with  their  heads  down  and  their  feet  upward, 
and  so  many  other  constrained  and  extravagant  postures,  that 
we  have  no  tumblers  who  could  imitate  them  in  their  feats  of 
activity ;  and  all  this,  it  seems,  through  devotion  and  through 
motives  of  religion,  of  which,  however,  one  cannot  discover  even 
the  bare  resemblance. 

"All  these  extraordinary  and  novel  exhibitions  so  much  amazed 
me,  that  I  was  in  a  complete  dilemma  what  to  think  of  them. 
Sometimes  I  considered  them  as  the  remains,  or  rather  as  the 
authors,  of  that  ancient  and  infamous  sect  of  cynics ;  but  I  could 
discern  nothing  in  them  but  brutality  and  ignorance ;  and  they 
appeared  to  me  so  many  automata,  rather  than  rational  creatures. 
At  another  time  I  regarded  them  as  enthusiasts,  though  I  could 
not  perceive  a  shadow  of  true  piety  in  all  their  actions.  Some- 
times I  thought  that  the  idle,  lazy  and  independent  life  of  a  beg- 
gar might  have  in  it  something  attractive.  Sometimes  I  imagined 
that  the  vanity  which  is  to  be  found  in  every  condition  of  life, 
and  which  is  perceptible  as  well  under  the  patched  mantle  of  a 
Diogenes  as  under  the  comely  garment  of  Plato,  might  be  the 
motive  that  actuated  these  machines ;  and,  then,  reflecting  on  the 
miserable,  austere  life  they  lead,  they  set  at  defiance  all  my 
conjectures. 

"Among  those  that  I  have  mentioned,  there  are  some  who  are 
believed  to  be  true  saints,  illuminated,  perfect  Yogees — that  is, 
perfectly  united  to  God.  These  are  men  who  have  forsaken  their 
relations  and  the  concerns  of  this  life,  and  sequester  themselves 
in  some  remote  spot  or  forest,  like  hermits,  without  ever  ap- 


342  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

preaching  the  city.  If  any  food  is  conveyed  to  them,  they 
receive  it ;  if  not,  it  is  believed  they  can  exist  without,  and  sub- 
sist by  the  special  grace  of  God,  in  perpetual  fasting  and  prayer, 
and  absorption  in  profound  meditation.  I  say  absorption ;  for 
they  carry  this  meditation  to  such  an  extreme  as  to  pass  whole 
hours  in  it,  beholding  all  the  time  (as  they  affirm)  God  himself, 
like  an  effulgent,  ineffable  light,  with  an  inexpressible  joy  and 
satisfaction,  associated  with  an  utter  contempt  and  abandonment 
of  the  world. 

"This  is  not  all:  when  two  or  more  Yogees  of  eminence 
happen  to  meet,  and  you  can  manage  to  pique  them  on  the  supe- 
riority of  their  skill,  they  perform  such  wonderful  feats  in  emu- 
lation of  each  other,  that  I  know  not  if  Simon  Magus  could 
excel  them.  They  divine  our  thoughts ;  cause  the  branch  of  a 
tree  to  blossom  and  bear  fruit  in  the  space  of  an  hour;  hatch 
eggs  in  their  bosom  in  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour ;  and  pro- 
duce whatever  birds  you  demand,  which  are  made  to  fly  instanter 
about  the  chamber,  and  numerous  other  such  prodigies.  I  am 
always  attempting  to  discover  whether  the  thing  might  not  have 
been  done  by  some  deception,  artifice  or  legerdemain ;  and  am 
sometimes  so  unfortunate  (or,  if  you  will  have  it,  so  fortunate)  as 
to  detect  the  cheat." 


CHAPTER     XXIV. 

Miscellaneous  Explanations  of  various  Practices,  Customs,  and  Vices,  existing 
among  the  Hindoos,  as  referred  to  by  Babajee,  in  the  articles  prepared  by  him 
for  the  Moral  Society. 

ON  reading  the  articles  drawn  up  by  Babajee  for  the  forma- 
tion of  a  Moral  Society,  it  seems  to  the  writer  that  the  simple 
allusion  there  made  to  so  many  singular  habits  and  vices,  will 
leave  the  inquiring,  and  especially  the  curious  reader,  to  ask  a 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  343 

further  explanation  concerning  them.  As  such  an  explanation 
will  introduce  the  reader  more  fully  into  the  society  of  the  Hin- 
doos —  if  society  there  may  be,  where  confidence,  the  bond  of  the 
social  compact,  scarcely  can  be  said  to  exist — or  it  will,  more 
properly  speaking,  introduce  the  reader  more  fully  to  the  social 
habits  of  that  people,  I  shall  add  a  few  explanations  and  remarks 
on  each  of  the  twenty-three  articles.  As  the  object  is  not  the 
exposition  of  the  articles,  but  to  make  them  texts,  from  which 
to  delineate  local  character,  there  is  no  occasion  to  repeat  them, 
but  only  to  refer  to  them  numerically. 

1.  "Ardent  spirits"  are  manufactured  in  India,  and  are  also 
brought,  as  an  article  of  commerce,  from  England,  America,  and 
other  places.  Drunkenness,  however,  is  not  a  common  vice 
among  the  native  population.  The  use  of  wine  and  strong  drink 
is  forbidden,  both  to  the  Hindoos  and  to  the  Mussulmans,  by 
their  respective  religions.  Consequently,  no  one  among  these 
two  largest  portions  of  the  natives  of  India  but  an  irreligious 
man,  or  an  outcast,  or  an  infidel,  would  dare  to  use  ardent  spirits. 
The  Parsees  of  Bombay,  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  fire- 
worshipers  of  Persia,  who  fled  to  India  for  conscience's  sake 
when  the  infatuated  followers  of  Mohammed  invaded  the  country, 
use  wine,  beer,  and  brandy  immoderately.  This  they  do,  not 
with  the  sanction  of  their  religious  books,  but  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple as  they  eat  ham — swine's  flesh  being  prohibited.  They  call 
it  mutton,  and  eat  it  without  asking  any  questions.  The  Parsees, 
being  comparatively  a  small  portion  of  the  population,  do  not 
furnish  a  great  number  of  drunkards.  The  ranks  of  this  loath- 
some band  are  left  to  be  filled  up  by  Christians. 

The  intoxicating  liquor  drunk  by  the  common  and  poorer 
classes  of  the  natives,  is  called  arrack.  This  is  a  cheap,  fiery 
liquor,  produced  by  fermentation  or  distillation  from  the  tadee 
of  the  cocoa-nut  tree.  A  branch,  or,  more  properly,  a  stem  of 
the  tree  is  cut  off,  and  from  the  end  of  the  newly  cut  stem  there 
oozes  a  kind  of  sap,  of  a  milky  color,  and  a  saccharine  taste. 
This  is  a  wholesome,  pleasant  beverage,  not  intoxicating  when 
taken  fresh  from  the  tree ;  but  the  liquor  produced  from  it  is 


344  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

highly  intoxicating,  and  is  said  to  be  more  injurious  than  the  in- 
toxicating drinks  of  Europe.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  first  reso- 
lution was  aimed  at  an  existing  evil,  against  which  converts  from 
Hindooism  need  to  be  fortified. 

2.  "  Heathen  sports,  shows,  jugglers'  feats,  and  the  like,"  are 
so  common  among  the  Hindoos,  and  so  exactly  adapted  to  their 
taste  and  to  their  habits,  and  have  so  constantly  furnished  them 
amusement,  it  would  not  be  strange  should  converts  to  Christian- 
ity here  meet  a  strong  temptation  to  spend  much  of  their  pre- 
cious time  in  the  same  indulgence.  It  would  be  needless,  were  I 
able,  even  to  enumerate  these.  They  are  more  numerous  than 
in  Europe  or  America ;  some  equal  in  interest  to  idle  gazers, 
and  many  inferior  and  very  frivolous.  The  cry  of  Tumashee, 
(sport  or  exhibition,)  never  fails  to  collect  the  idle  rabble. 
Whatever  be  its  character,  it  will  answer  the  end  of  gratifying  a 
vitiated  taste,  and  of  killing  a  few  hours  of  time.  Pictures  re- 
presenting the  feats  of  their  gods,  the  achievements  of  their 
heroes,  the  greatness  and  goodness  of  their  priests,  the  sensual 
joys  of  heaven,  and  miseries  of  the  nether  world,  and  a  thous- 
and other  things  calculated  to  arrest  the  attention  of  an  indolent 
people,  are  every  where  exhibited  and  minutely  explained  by  the 
exhibitors.  I  once  stopped,  as  I  was  passing  a  crowd  of  people 
in  the  street,  to  look  at  one  of  these  pictures,  which  happened 
to  be  a  representation  of  the  two  conditions  of  the  future  world. 
I  mention  one  of  the  explanations  that  were  given  as  an  ex- 
ample. The  exhibitor  had  unrolled  his  long  canvass,  on  which 
were  delineated  in  opposite  rows  the  state  of  the  happy  and  the 
miserable,  as  fixed  after  death.  He  then  pointed  to  one  figure, 
saying,  "  You  there  see  a  man  seated  on  an  elephant,  reclining 
in  the  easy  howda,  which  is  hung  with  such  rich  trappings,  and 
so  shining  with  gold.  You  see  one  attendant  in  rich  livery, 
holding  over  his  head  the  chutree,  a  large  and  splendid  umbrella, 
to  prevent  a  hot  ray  of  the  sun  from  striking  him ;  and  another 
servant  is  gently  waving  the  chowrie  to  refresh  him,  or  to  drive 
away  the  flies.  You  see  his  retinue  of  servants,  and  camels, 
and  horses,  and  palanquins?"  "Yes."  "Well,  that  man  was 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  345 

once  like  one  of  you.  But  he  honored  the  gods  by  worship  and 
sacrifices ;  he  made  large  presents  to  the  Brahmuns  and  gooroos, 
and  faithfully  performed  the  duties  of  our  religion ;  and  now  he 
is  rewarded  as  you  see.  He  revels  in  eternal  youth ;  his  strength 
is  increased  to  a  degree  that  he  may  live  in  the  perpetual  grati- 
fication of  every  appetite ;  and  no  means  are  wanting  to  the  con- 
summation of  all  his  desires.  You  see  on  the  opposite  side,  do 
you  not,  that  poor  fellow,  half  starved,  naked,  terrified  by  ser- 
pents and  loathsome  reptiles,  stung  by  scorpions,  and  tormented 
by  little  devils  thrusting  into  him  sharp-pointed  spikes?" 
"  Yes."  "  Well,  there  is  a  man  who  would  not  worship  his  gods, 
nor  perform  the  rites  of  his  religion.  He  ate,  and  drank,  but 
did  not  feed  the  Brahmuns,  or  the  religious  beggars.  And  now 
he  has  his  reward." 

Comic  and  dramatic  performances  are  every  where  common, 
but  indifferent.  Tumbling,  boxing,  and  all  sorts  of  buffoonery, 
are  performed  by  the  numerous  companies  of  strolling  players 
which  traverse  the  country  continually.  Dancing  women  enter- 
tain the  great,  and  dancing  bears,  the  vulgar.  Monkeys,  playing 
the  soldier,  the  friend,  the  rogue,  or  the  lover;  tigers,  leopards, 
parrots,  and  different  kinds  of  beasts,  and  birds,  and  serpents, 
are  exhibited.  Jugglers,  of  all  grades  and  descriptions,  are 
common.  Their  feats  are  attributed  to  some  supernatural 
power ;  as  is  the  case  in  India  with  every  thing,  the  reason  of 
which  does  not  at  once  appear  obvious. 

3.  "  Buffoonery,  jeering,  and  the  derision  of  others,"  are  per- 
haps more  sadly  characteristic  of  human  nature  in  India  than 
the  same  unlovely  qualities  are  in  a  Christian  land.  To  this  list 
I  may  add  scandal,  tale-bearing,  and  slander.  A  Hindoo  is  al- 
together governed  by  self-interest ;  and  these  are  instruments  by 
which  he  often  attempts  to  bring  about  his  selfish  purposes. 
The  reputation  of  a  neighbor,  or  a  brother,  is  never  considered, 
when  it  stands  in  the  way  of  his  own  preferment  or  advantage ; 
nor  does  he  hesitate  to  fabricate  the  most  vile  report,  if  it  is 
likely  to  be  for  his  own  benefit.  Hailing,  reproach,  ridicule, 
jeering,  and  abuse  begin  when  deception,  flattery,  and  low  cun- 


846  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

ning  end,  or,  rather,  when  they  have  failed  to  accomplish  their 
objects.  And  these  are  often  followed  by  horrible  execrations, 
such  as  the  cursing  of  one  another's  mothers,  or  their  dead  re- 
lations. 

4.  "Heathen  festivals"  are  the  source  of  endless  evils  to  the 
people.     Their  number  and  character  have  been  described  in  a 
preceding  chapter,  from  which  it  will  be  seen  how  demoralizing 
must  be  their  influence  on  the  minds  of  the  people.     The  good 
people  of  this  Christian  country  think  that  our  two  or  three  an- 
nual festivals,  when  observed  only  as  days  of  mirth  and  frivolity, 
produce  more  moral  evil  than  as  many  weeks  or  months  will  re- 
pair.    The  consequences,  then,  of  one  hundred    and  forty-Jive 
heathen  festivals,   annually,  must    produce    an    inconceivable 
amount  of  dissipation  and  vice  on  the  Hindoo  nation.     Were 
these  festivals  but  Irish  wakes,  or  English  fairs,  or  American 
celebrations  of  independence,  with  "  bonfires,  cannon,  excessive 
mirth,  and  conviviality,"  or  were  they  what  they  pretend  to  be, 
days  of  worshiping  heathen  gods  simply,  they  would  be  less  de- 
basing to  the  nation  than  they  now  are.     They  have  no  redeem- 
ing quality.     They  foster  no  sentiment  of  patriotism,  or  friend- 
ship, or  social  virtue ;  they  encourage  no  art  or  science,  or  bring 
any  advantage  to  any  one ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  they  en- 
courage idleness,  propagate  vice,  corrupt  the  youth,  perpetuate 
the  sins  of  the  more  advanced  in  life.     They  are  fascinating  to 
all  classes  of  the  people  of  the  East,  and  present  a  powerful 
temptation  to  unstable  and  ignorant  converts,  on  account  of  their 
former  habits.     The  resolution  which  our  native  friends  at  Ah- 
mednuggur  made,  not  to  observe  such  festivals,  was  not  needless 

5.  "Lucky  and  unlucky  days,"  among  the  Hindoos,  are,  like 
many  things  of  a  similar  nature,  too  endless  to  be  described,  and 
the  account,  if  made  out,  would  be  too  tedious  and  frivolous  to 
be  read.     There  is  a  labyrinth  of  intricacies  about  them,  which 
no  one  but  a  Hindoo  priest  can  see  through,  and  he  is  oftentimes 
put  to  his  wit's  end,  as  he  would  have  the  people  suppose,  and 
obliged  to  consult  oracles,  and  get  supernatural  aid,  before  he 
can  always  determine  on  the  day,  or  the  particular  part  of  the 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  847 

day,  when  a  particular  kind  of  business  may  be  commenced,  or 
when  some  important  ceremony  may  be  performed.  But  as  they 
are  paid  for  their  very  essential  services  in  these  matters,  and  as 
they  can,  by  having  all  these  important  secrets  in  their  own 
hands,  control  almost  any  event  to  their  own  liking,  they  are  not 
much  to  be  pitied,  if  they  should  sometimes  torture  their  poor 
brains  in  vain,  in  order  to  meet  an  exigency.  The  common 
people  know,  in  general  terms,  that  some  days  are  lucky,  and 
others  unlucky ;  but  it  is  quite  impossible  for  them  to  know  the 
detail  of  this  difficult  matter ;  and  hence  the  necessity  of  calling 
in  a  Brahmun.  A  certain  day  may  be  lucky  for  the  commence- 
ment of  one  kind  of  business,  and  not  for  another ;  or  one  part 
of  the  day  may  be  propitious  for  a  certain  purpose,  and  another 
part  of  the  same  day  unpropitious. 

6.  "  The  singing  and  hearing  of  songs"  is  a  favorite  amuse- 
ment  among  the  Hindoos.      Men,  and  sometimes  women,  go 
about  the  country,  and  sing  songs  as  their  profession.    They  are 
much  run  after  by  all  classes  of  people,  yet  I  should  judge  but 
poorly  paid.     They  not  unfrequently  amuse  their  auditor  the 
whole  night,  alternately  singing  and  reciting.    At  every  interval, 
the  hearers  applaud  the  song  and  the  singer,  or  indulge  in  loud 
peals  of  laughter,  if  there  be  wit  or  obscenity  in   the    song. 
These  songs  are  generally  of  a  most  vile  character ;  and  their 
singing  or  recitation  is  attended  with  corresponding  lascivious 
tones  and  gestures.     The  feats  and  tricks  and  the  debaucheries 
of  their  gods  are   the    most  common  subjects  of  their  songs. 
Others  relate  to  affairs  of  gallantry  among  mortals.    A  few  are 
religious,  and  a  few  historical.     The  manner  of  singing  is  in  a 
sing-song  tone,  most  rude  and  unmusical. 

7.  "  Story-telling "  is  but  another  part  of  the  same  amuse- 
ment.    There  is  a  set  of  men  who  are  professed  story-tellers. 
They  travel  from  place  to  place,  like  those  who  sing  or  play  the 
buffoon,  or  exhibit  shows,  or  play  the  part  of  the  juggler  or  the 
conjurer.     All  these  characters  are  essential  accompaniments  to 
a  place  of  pilgrimage,  or  to  the  proper  celebration  of  their  holy 
days.    I  once  went  to  a  place  of  pilgrimage  in  the  Southern 


848  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

Concon.  Multitudes  of  people  were  assembled,  to  pay  their 
devotion  to  a  certain  god  or  goddess,  I  have  forgotten  which.  A 
large  inclosure  had  been  made,  by  means  of  curtains  suspended 
in  front  of  the  temple  of  the  deity  now  to  be  honored ;  and  a 
great  concourse  of  people  were  crowded  about  it.  Wishing  to 
ascertain  what  was  the  matter,  and  the  manner  of  worship  on 
the  present  occasion,  I  penetrated  through  the  crowd,  that  I 
might  see  what  was  doing  within  the  temporary  inclosure,  and 
in  front  of  the  temple ;  when,  to  my  astonishment,  the  princi- 
pal character  there  was  a  common  story-teller,  amusing  the 
people  with  the  love-stories  of  departed  worthies,  the  achieve- 
ments of  imaginary  heroes,  and  the  silly  fooleries  of  reputed 
deities.  This  comical  genius,  who  was  a  mimic,  a  mountebank, 
a  buffoon,  a  singer,  and  a  story-teller,  seemed  to  form  the  princi- 
pal centre  of  attraction  for  the  pilgrims. 

The  character  of  the  stories  which  they  relate,  is  similar  to 
that  of  the  songs  as  mentioned  above.  They  often  consist  of 
legends,  traditions,  and  the  most  incredible  fictions  respecting 
their  forefathers,  or  the  giants,  or  ancient  sages  and  warriors ; 
but  more  generally  they  relate  to  the  miraculous  fooleries  of 
their  gods.  The  indispensable  qualities  which  go  to  constitute  a 
good  story  among  this  people,  are  the  marvelous,  the  obscene,  and 
the  lascivious ;  and  the  principal  qualifications  in  the  actor  are 
impudence,  an  evil  imagination,  and  a  talent  to  fabricate. 
There  is  scarcely  a  feature  in  Indian  society  which  so  much 
vitiates  the  public  taste,  and  turns  the  heads  and  corrupts  the 
hearts  of  the  people  so  effectually,  as  that  of  story-telling.  The 
character  of  these  stories  contributes  in  an  astonishing  degree  to 
the  formation  of  the  character  of  the  youth  of  the  nation.  i 

8.  "  We  will  not  use  abusive  or  obseene  language."  A  par- 
tial acquaintance  with  Hindoo  society  will  show  that,  such  a  reso- 
lution as  this  is  not  made  at  random,  or  without  a  current  and 
a  very  prevalent  vice  for  its  object.  What  is  called  obscenity  is, 
I  am  aware,  to  some  extent  a  comparative  vice.  Custom,  and 
habit,  and  education,  have  pronounced  a  thing  to  be  impure  in 
one  nation,  which  is  not  regarded  as  impure  or  obscene  in  an- 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

other.  The  delicacy  of  one  recoils  from  the  mention  of  a  thing 
which  conveys  to  the  mind  of  another,  differently  educated,  no 
indelicate  allusion.  It  is  no  doubt  desirable  that  our  own  imagi- 
nations and  thoughts  should  be  so  pure,  and  the  public  taste  so 
truly  chaste,  that  we  might  speak  of  and  discuss  many  topics 
which  are  now  forbidden.  The  danger,  taking  human  nature  as 
we  find  it,  is  undoubtedly  on  the  side  of  too  much  laxity.  Yet 
there  may  be  a  squeamishness  of  taste  which  is  exceedingly  in- 
convenient for  all  parties,  and  really  prejudicial  to  the  cause  of 
moral  purity.  There  is  something  like  a  national  standard  in 
these  things,  a  departure  from  which  is  regarded  by  the  people 
of  each  nation  as  a  deviation  from  the  rules  of  delicacy.  This 
may  be  illustrated  better  by  an  example.  Take,  for  instance, 
that  member  of  the  body  which  an  American  lady  would  call  a 
limb  or  the  lower  member  of  the  body.  An  English  lady  would 
call  it  by  its  proper  name,  and  speak  of  it  as  she  would  of  the 
arm  or  the  head,  apparently  without  the  remotest  suspicion  that 
there  could  be  any  thing  indelicate  in  doing  so.  The  French 
lady  also  calls  it  a  leg,  and  never  thinks  to  dishonor  or  be  asham- 
ed of  so  necessary  a  member  of  the  body ;  while  the  Hindoo 
female  speaks  of  this  member,  and  treats  it  as  familiarly  as  she 
does  her  arms  or  her  neck.  She  wears  a  dress  which  exposes 
the  whole  or  a  part  of  it;  and  neither  she  nor  any  one  sees  or 
feels  any  impropriety  in  the  exposure.  It  is  hard  to  know 
where,  in  -these  four  cases,  we  may  lodge  the  charge  of  indeli- 
cacy with  the  greatest  propriety.  In  the  former  instance,  there 
may  be  the  most  fastidiousness,  while  there  may  not,  in  the  latter 
instance,  be  the  most  indelicacy  of  thought  and  imagination. 

We  must  not,  therefore,  suppose  that  every  deviation  of  the 
Hindoo  from  our  standard  of  propriety,  is  a  transgression  of  the 
rules  of  real  decorum.  Yet  there  are  other  things  which  the 
respectable  of  all  nations  unite  in  pronouncing  indelicate  and 
obscene,  and  which,  in  their  nature,  are  so.  And  after  making 
all  the  allowances  which  we  can  on  the  score  of  national  taste, 
we  find  in  the  language,  as  well  as  in  the  conduct  of  the  Hin- 
doos, an  obscenity,  and  a  degree  of  filthy  communication,  which 


350  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

is  quite  shocking  to  all  our  feelings  of  propriety  or  delicacy. 
The  common  slang  of  the  people  is  full  of  it ;  and  it  seems  to 
abound  among  all  ranks  of  the  community.  And  when  it  is 
employed  in  reproach,  and  in  angry  and  abusive  conversation, 
and  in  quarreling,  it  becomes  tenfold  more  horrible.  The  Hin- 
doos seldom,  if  ever,  fight  so  as  to  come  to  blows.  Indeed,  I 
never  saw  one  Hindoo  strike  another.  Their  anger  is  often  ex- 
cited to  an  awful  pitch,  and,  did  you  not  know  their  cowardly 
habits  in  this  respect,  you  would  suppose  they  must  undoubtedly 
annihilate  each  other  in  their  wrath.  ISTot  a  blow,  however,  will 
be  struck.  But  such  torrents  of  abuse,  and  such  execrations  and 
maledictions  as  you  never  before  conceived  of,  supply  the  place 
of  broken  heads  and  bruised  limbs.  The  belligerent  parties 
spare  no  terms  of  reproach.  Each  abuses  and  curses  the  mother 
and  the  deceased  relations  of  the  other,  and  they  provoke  one 
another  by  the  foulness  of  the  epithets  which  they  apply.  No 
disrespect,  however,  is  meant  to  the  poor  mothers  or  the  dead 
relations  who  are  so  unmercifully  execrated.  It  is  only  a  custom- 
ary way  of  abusing  an  adversary. 

9.  "  Custom,"  with  the  Hindoo,  is  every  thing.  He  believes, 
not  because  his  reason  is  convinced,  or  he  approves  of  his  system 
of  religion,  as  well  pleasing  to  his  god,  or  suited  to  his  circum- 
stances as  a  sinner,  but  because  it  is  the  custom  of  his  people  to 
believe  so,  and  his  fathers  believed  so  before  him.  Nor  does  he 
practice  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  his  religion  on  any  more  ra- 
tional grounds.  The  same  remark  will  apply  to  almost  every  act 
in  common  life.  He  does  not  seem  to  do  any  thing  from  reflec- 
tion, but  from  habit  and  custom.  Innovations  and  improvements 
are,  of  course,  never  thought  of,  much  less  adopted.  But  the 
article  in  question  does  not  refer  to  the  ordinary  customs  of  com- 
mon life.  As  Christians  and  missionaries,  we  do  not  care  whether 
our  converts  wear  hats  or  turbans,  coats  or  ungrikas ;  sit  on  the 
floor,  and  eat  with  their  fingers  from  a  leaf,  or  sit  on  a  chair  and 
use  knife,  fork,  spoon,  and  plate;  whether  they,  like  the  Hin- 
doos, mount  their  horses  on  the  right  side,  or,  in  a  more  Chris- 
tian-like manner,  mount  on  the  left.  Eespecting  these  things, 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  351 

they  have  our  example,  and  wherever  we  believe  they  could  be 
benefited  by  an  exchange,  we  advise  and  counsel.  It  is  only  in 
a  moral  point  of  view  that  we  seek  to  change  customs  and  laws. 
It  is  the  "  custom "  for  the  Hindoo  to  speak  the  truth  or  false- 
hood, to  make  a  show  of  fairness,  or  to  resort  to  knavery,  just 
as  he  judges  shall  best  suit  his  own  selfish  purposes.  It  is  a 
"  custom  "  to  cheat,  to  deceive,  to  overreach,  whenever  there  be 
an  opportunity ;  and  to  live  in  the  indulgence  of  the  carnal  ap- 
petites. When  I  reprove  the  Hindoo  for  any  of  these  sins,  he 
answers:  "Such  is  our  custom."  Custom  neutralizes  every 
thing:  it  is  the  grand  apology  for  every  sin.  It  is  a  difficult 
task  to  teach  a  Hindoo  that  custom  itself  may  be  wrong.  It  is 
hard  to  convict  him  of  guilt  contracted  only  by  following  the 
beaten  path  of  custom.  In  theory,  the  Brahmun  will  talk,  for 
example,  of  continence,  as  a  virtue  that  should  be  practiced.  But  in 
practice,  he  will  tell  you  there  is  not,  and  there  cannot  be,  any  such 
thing.  An  Utopian  view  of  virtue,  he  says,  teaches  self-denial, 
while  custom  allows  of  free  indulgence ;  and  he  sees,  as  he  pre- 
tends, all  men  following  the  dictates  of  custom.  He  will  not, 
therefore,  believe  that  any  one  ever  practices  the  opposite  virtue, 
except  through  necessity  or  restraint.  Hence  it  will  be  seen  that 
a  resolution,  "  not  to  observe  Hindoo  customs  which  are  opposed 
to  the  Christian  Scriptures,"  was  neither  useless  nor  unmeaning, 
in  reference  to  Hindoo  converts  in  a  heathen  land.  And  well  it 
might  be  for  Christian  converts,  in  a  Christian  land,  to  make  and 
keep  a  resolution  that  they  will  observe  no  Christian  custom  which 
is  opposed  to  the  Christian  Scriptures. 

10.  The  Hindoos  are  every  where  proverbial  for  their  "  indo- 
lence." Labor  is  always  regarded  as  a  sore  evil.  To  eat  to  shameful 
excess,  to  smoke,  gossip,  to  hear  and  tell  stories,  and  to  sleep 
more  than  half  of  the  twenty-four  hours,  is  regarded  by  the 
Hindoo  as  the  summum  bonum  of  happiness.  Perhaps  nothing 
would  sooner  attract  the  attention  of  the  foreigner  on  his  arrival 
in  India,  than  the  immense  crowds  of  idle  people  which  every 
where  throng  an  eastern  city.  So  limited  are  the  actual  wants 
of  the  people,  and  so  few  the  incentives  to  industry,  and  such 


352  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

the  institutions  of  caste,  that  probably  not  above  a  fourth  part 
of  the  inhabitants  of  any  given  place  are  at  the  same  time 
engaged  in  any  employment ;  and  those  that  are  employed  do 
not  generally  labor  more  than  six  hours  a  day.  Hence  the  mul- 
titude of  idle  people  which  may  always  be  seen  lounging  about 
the  bazaars,  the  temples,  and  other  places  of  concourse.  The 
standard  of  industry  among  a  people  is  generally  formed  on  the 
real  or  imaginary  wants  of  that  people.  These  wants  may  be 
necessary  in  themselves,  or  become  so  by  the  customs  of  society. 
In  either  case,  they  are  incentives  to  industry ;  and  whatever  pro- 
motes the  industry,  promotes  the  virtue  of  a  people.  For  an  idle 
people  have  never  yet  been  a  virtuous,  a  moral  or  a  religious  people. 
The  wants  of  the  Hindoos — I  mean  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people — 
are  absolute  wants.  A  bare  subsistence  is  all  they  seek  or  expect, 
and  this  may  be  gained  by  a  very  small  amount  of  labor.  Hence  the 
divisions  and  sub-divisions  of  labor,  and  much  of  the  nonsense  of 
caste,  and  the  moral  corruption  of  the  people.  Each  caste  of  people 
has  its  prescribed  departments  of  labor;  and  if  a  person  of  one  caste 
be  found  doing  a  kind  of  work  which  belongs  to  another  caste,  he 
will  be  persecuted  and  compelled  to  abandon  it.  Therefore,  while 
a  man  adheres  to  the  rule  of  caste,  and  while  his  wants  remain  so 
very  few,  he  is  doomed  to  a  life  of  comparative  idleness.  But  the 
convert  to  Christianity  is  neither  bound  by  caste,  nor  ought  he 
to  confine  his  wants  barely  to  a  miserable  subsistence.  He  should 
be  taught  to  acquire,  to  appreciate,  and  to  enjoy  the  good  things 
of  this  present  life.  The  temptation  to  indolence  is  doubtless 
increased,  in  some  degree,  by  the  heat  of  the  climate. 

11.  ""We  will  not  do  or  say  any  thing  against  the  Christian 
church."  Such  a  resolution  may  be  of  more  practical  utility 
among  Hindoo  converts  than  the  reader  would  at  first  imagine. 
Scandal  and  detraction  seem  to  be  the  common  ingredients  in 
the  composition  of  the  Hindoo's  character;  and  these  unlovely 
traits  are  most  unsparingly  exhibited  whenever  an  occasion  is 
offered.  There  are  many  ways  in  which  the  unwarrantable  ex- 
pectations of  a  convert  to  Christianity  may  be  disappointed,  or 
he  may  be  restrained,  chagrined,  admonished,  or  suspended. 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  353 

And  as  lie  has  not  been  in  the  habit  of  feeling  moral  restraints, 
and  is  accustomed  to  treat  all  who  for  the  moment  seem  to  him  to 
oppose  his  interest  or  his  gratification  as  enemies,  and,  exercis- 
ing neither  reflection  nor  self-command  over  his  unreasonable 
feelings,  he  will  unsparingly  deal  out  reproaches,  sarcasm  and 
abuse  against  the  church,  and  the  missionaries,  and  Christianity. 
During  these  intervals  of  petulance  and  dissatisfaction,  he  seeks 
no  explanations,  nor  does  he  ever  seem  to  think  that  any  expla- 
nations could  be  made.  He  forgets  all  past  kindnesses,  magni- 
fies his  imaginary  wrongs,  and  is  not  scrupulous  to  whom  he  un- 
bosoms his  griefs.  The  evil  done,  the  missionary  at  length  is 
informed  of  his  grievances,  and  redresses  them  by  word  of  ex- 
planation. All  is  again  quiet,  and  the  poor  ignorant  creature, 
who  imagined  he  had  just  occasion  for  all  his  hard  speeches 
against  his  patrons  and  protectors,  now  exercises  in  them  the 
most  implicit  confidence.  Hence  it  will  appear  that  converts  are 
in  danger  of  acting  and  speaking  against  the  church. 

12.  "  Wandering  about  from  place  to  place,"  and  killing  time 
by  every  species  of  dissipation,  is  but  the  legitimate  fruits  of  the 
idle  habits  of  the  Hindoos.  When  out  of  service,  as  I  have 
shown  that  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  people  are,  the  Hin- 
doo rises  in  the  morning,  saunters  for  an  hour  or  two  about  in 
the  bazaar,  loiters  with  every  company  of  loungers,  returns  at  ten 
or  eleven  o'clock  to  his  breakfast ;  his  indulgence  is  there  gene- 
rally limited  by  his  inability  to  get  more ;  smokes  his  goodee-goo- 
dee,  and  then  gives  himself  over  to  sleep  till  three  or  four  in  the 
afternoon.  He  then  properly  begins  his  day.  Laborers  have, 
by  this  time,  completed  their  daily  task ;  servants,  writers,  teach- 
ers, and  men  in  different  employments,  are  now  at  leisure ;  and 
the  vast  multitude  of  idlers  are  beginning  to  leave  their  respect- 
've  lairs,  and  to  congregate  for  the  evening's  entertainment. 
You  may  see  them  now  arranged  according  to  their  castes.  The 
company  on  the  platform,  under  yonder  tree,  with  red  turbans, 
and  comparatively  clean  and  white  clothes,  are  Brahmuns.  They 
manifest  the  superiority  which  they  claim,  by  the  important  man- 
ner in  which  you  see  them  conversing  together,  and  by  that  pe- 

23 

-  • .  .          •       -. 

•.-->      „  f  :  • 


354  INDIA    AXD    ITS    PEOPLE. 


,r  and  significant  toss  of  the  head.  The  company  which  you 
see  seated  on  the  steps  of  the  temple,  and  in  front  of  it,  with 
enormous,  large,  dark-red  turbans,  and  so  intent  in  conversation 
on  apparently  weighty  matters,  is  composed  of  native  merchants 
and  banyans,  many  of  whom  are  rich,  and  all  are  misers.  There 
is  sitting  another  circle  of  men  about  a  fire,  made  by  the  burning 
of  the  straw  and  refuse  of  the  streets.  These  men  are  very 
black,  poorly  clad,  and  dirty.  Some  are  without  turbans,  others 
have  but  a  coarse  cloth  about  their  heads,  and  the  whole  group  is 
ill-looking  and  wretched.  They  are  the  Mhars,  the  lower  order 
of  working-men  and  coolies.  But  look  beyond  all  these  groups, 
and  you  may  see  different  companies  of  women  and  girls,  gossip- 
ing in  circles,  according  to  their  respective  castes.  Sometimes 
they  are  good-naturedly  gossiping,  and  sometimes  there  is  a  little 
jarring  in  their  community.  And  then,  what  eloquence !  what 
epithets !  what  torrents  of  abuse !  what  flood-gates  are  opened, 
and  what  a  noise  of  the  many  waters !  Would  you  see  "  how 
great  a  matter  a  little  fire  kindleth,"  and  how  great  a  commotion 
may  be  excited  by  the  "  little  member" — would  you  learn  what 
unsurpassed  achievements  the  tongue  is  capable  of  performing,  you 
must  see  and  hear  two  Hindoo  women,  when  sharply  quarreling. 

Among  these  different  idle  groups  which  I  have  been  showing 
you,  the  well-dressed,  light-brown  complexioned,  well-formed  Par- 
see,  with  his  spotted  turban,  may  be  seen  walking.  And  there  goes 
the  tall,  well-formed  Arab,  or  the  haughty  Mussulman.  These  dif- 
ferent groups  will,  doubtless,  if  they  can  find  entertainment,  spend 
the  whole  night  in  this  manner.  Thus  is  time  squandered  and 
morals  corrupted.  Thus  does  the  idler  drag  out  life  amidst  a 
multitude  as  idle  and  corrupt  as  himself. 

13.  "Neglecting  to  hear  the  word  of  God  on  the  Sabbath,"  is 
not  a  sin  peculiar  to  the  Hindoo  convert,  nor  is  he  the  only  one 
that  needs  to  enforce  this  duty  by  a  resolution.  Yet  the  Christian 
in  India  is  very  much  prone  to  this  sin.  He  fancies  he  is  sick ; 
his  head  aches  from  Saturday  night  till  Monday  morning;  he  is 
astonished  to  have  fever  on  him  all  Sunday ;  he  dares  not  leave 
his  house  on  Sunday  for  the  fear  of  rogues,  though  he  has  found 


INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  355 

it  secure  during  the  past  six  days.  Many,  and  often  very  frivo- 
lous, are  the  excuses  Avhich  he  has  for  his  absence  from  our  regu- 
lar religious  services.  Babajee  traced  the  whole  to  "slothful- 
ness,"  and  indifference  to  the  word  of  God,  and  formed  a  resolu- 
tion to  counteract  the  evils. 

14.  "The  customs  of  servants."  And  what  are  these?  I 
have  spoken  of  the  absolute  authority  of  "  custom  "  in  general. 
But  domestics,  servants,  and  dependents  of  every  description, 
have  customs  and  usages  peculiar  to  themselves,  which  they  ap- 
peal to  as  affording  sanction  for  practices  that  would  otherwise 
be  very  reprehensible.  To  receive  a  per  centage  on  all  money 
paid  out  by  the  master,  to  overcharge  (in  their  accounts  of  pur- 

'.  .  chases  made  for  their  master)  perhaps  double  or  treble,  to  appro- 
priate his  property  to  themselves,  to  defraud  him  in  any  way 
they  can,  and  to  take  bribes  from  others  for  the  privilege  of  de- 
frauding him,  and  a  thousand  such  like  practices,  are  regarded 
by  servants  as  legitimate  measures  when  dealing  with  their  mas- 
ters. Servants  of  every  grade  have  their  peculiar  perquisites, 
which  are  sometimes  considerable  when  compared  with  their 
monthly  pay;  but  the  steward  is  the  person  who  shares  the  most 
largely  in  the  profits  of  their  customary  system  of  defrauding. 
When  engaging  in  the  service  of  a  "  rich  man  "  and  a  great 
household,  his  wages  are  a  consideration  of  no  consequence,  when 
compared  with  the  perquisites  of  his  situation.  While  he  is 
.  .  content  with  a  moderate  per  centage,  his  master  has  patience 
with  him ;  but,  when  he  becomes  more  avaricious,  as  he  gener- 
ally does  after  a  short  time,  and  begins  to  "  waste  his  master's 
goods,"  by  appropriating  to  himself  a  great  share  of  what  is 
committed  to  his  care,  the  master  is  offended,  calls  the  steward 
to  an  account,  and  discharges  him  from  his  service,  or  "  puts  him 
out  of  his  stewardship." 

An  understanding  has  all  along  existed  between  the  servant 
and  the  marketmen,  shopkeepers,  and  others  with  whom  he  has 
had  dealings.  Both  the  real  and  the  nominal  price  of  every 

?•:,    '  article  is  agreed  on,  that  the  servant  and  the  shopkeeper  may  tell 
the  master  the  same  story.     In  this  way,  a  systematic  course  of 


356  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

deception  aud  fraud  is  carried  on,  under  the  sanction  of  custom ; 
and  in  like  manner  pilfering,  and  downright  thieving,  is  prac- 
ticed to  a  most  shameful  extent.  Converts  to  Christianity,  if 
engaged  in  a  family  as  servants,  have  before  them  a  powerful 
temptation  to  practice  what  are  called  the  "  servant's  customs." 
15.  "Administering  to  the  sick,"  visiting  the  fatherless  and 
widows  in  their  afflictions,  feeding  the  hungry,  and  clothing  the 
naked,  are  not  the  attributes  of  Hindooism.  They  are  the  free 
and  rich  streams  which  flow  from  the  fountain  revealed  in  the 
Gospel.  Christianity  is  charity ;  Hindooism  is  cold  selfishness. 
Thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  wretched  beings  are  annu- 
ally left  to  die  without  medicine,  without  attendance,  and  with- 
out pity.  If  a  man  sickens  from  home,  and  if  he  be  without 
money,  as  in  most  instances  would  be  the  case,  and  no  one  inter- 
ested in  him  were  near,  he  might  suffer  and  die  alone.  He  could 
expect  nothing  on  the  score  of  charity.  I  have  in  another  place 
mentioned  several  descriptions  of  diseased  persons,  who  are  dis- 
carded on  account  of  their  diseases  as  soon  as  they  become  in- 
curable. The  "tender  mercies"  of  the  heathen  are  "cruelty." 
An  anecdote  will  best  illustrate  this  subject,  and  at  the  same 
time  explain  another  point.  A  Brahmun  by  the  name  of  Myral 
had  for  some  time  been  in  the  service  of  the  mission,  as  a  pun- 
dit. ~We  knew  him  to  be  a  married  man,  but  without  children ; 
and  we  were  of  course  astonished  to  hear  of  his  second  marriage, 
knowing  that  his  wife  was  still  living,  and  that  Hindooism  does 
not  allow  of  a  plurality  of  wives.  I  informed  him,  one  day,  that 
,  I  was  knowing  to  his  second  marriage,  and  asked  him  how  he,  a 
pundit  and  a  gooroo,  could  so  far  transgress  the  laws  of  God  and 
of  Brahmunism  as  to  marry  again,  while  he  had  a  wife  living? 
He  said  that,  in  ordinary  cases,  it  would  be  wrong  to  marry  un- 
der such  circumstances ;  but  that  in  his  case  it  was  right  and  law- 
ful. I  asked  him  why?  He  replied,  "My  wife  is  sickly,  and 
unable  to  discharge  the  duties  of  a  wife."  You  have  no  right  to 
cast  her  off  on  that  account,  but  ought  rather  to  support,  cherish, 
and  comfort  her,  and  to  treat  her,  in  every  respect,  as  kindly, 
and  as  conjugally,  as  if  she  were  vigorous  and  healthy.  "  What 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  357 

you  say,  Sahib,  is  good ;  but  my  wife  is  very  ill,  she  can  do  noth- 
ing —  she  is  no  wife  to  me."  But  you  have  no  right  to  neglect 
her  and  take  another,  said  I.  "  Never  mind  that,  Sahib ;  she 
cannot  live  long,  she  will  die  in  two  or  three  months." 

16.  The  Hindoos  "  bury  "  or  burn  their  "  dead,"  according  to 
caste  and  circumstances.     Burning  is  the  most  honorable ;  but  it 
is  too  expensive  for  the  poorer  classes  of  the  people.     The  funer- 
al pile  must  consist  of  a  sufficient  quantity  of  wood,  or  of  dried 
cow-dung,  to  consume  the  body  completely.     Burying  is  attended 
with  very  little  expense.     Coffins  are  never  used,  and  little  or  no 
clothing  is  deposited  with  the  body ;  and  if  any  be  allowed  to 
remain  on  the  body,  it  is  only  the  ordinary  clothing  of  the  de- 
ceased.    There  is,  properly  speaking,  no  religious  service  at  a 
Hindoo  funeral.     There  is  a  savage  howling,  and  shrieking,  and 
inconsolable  wailings.     The  "  mourning  women  "  encompass  the 
house  of  the  afflicted,  and  express  all  the  signs  of  the  most  sin- 
cere grief.     The  tears  trickle  down  their  cheeks,  they  smite  their 
breasts  and  wring  their  hands  for  anguish.     Their   distorted, 
woeful  countenances  seem  the  true  index  of  an  agonizing  heart. 
But,  except  the  mourning  of  a  few  near  relations,  and  the  hollow 
ebullitions  of  these  hirelings,  there  is  no  seriousness,  no  solemnity 
in  a  Hindoo  funeral.     The  bearers  of  the  deceased  are  hirelings ; 
the  Brahmuns  who  may  officiate  only  think  of  their  fee,  and  the 
bystanders  appear  as  perfectly  thoughtless  and  vacant  as  if  the 
body  of  an  ox  or  horse  had  been  carried  by.     Death  and  the 
grave  never  seem  to  teach  a  lesson  of  mortality  to  the  living  in 
India.     No  voice  is  heard  to  say,  "  Be  ye  also  ready." 

17.  I  do  not  think  the  Hindoos  are  particularly  prone  to  the 
"  use  of  harsh  or  unkind  language."     "When  in  a  passion,  the 
lower  orders  of  the  men,  and  the  women  especially,  deal  out 
their  invectives  with  an  unsparing  hand,  alias    tongue.     But 
irritability  and  anger  are  less  prominent  characteristics  of  the 
Hindoos  than  subtlely  and  dissimulation.     The  Brahmuns,  in 
particular,   have  acquired  an  astonishing  command  over  their 
tempers.     They  can  disguise  their  real  feelings  to  an  extraordi- 
nary extent,  and  they  are  shrewd,  artful,  obsequious,  good-natured 


358  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

fellows.  And  the  people,  in  general,  are  rather  supine  than  irrit- 
able ;  but,  when  excited,  there  is  a  grossness  and  a  severity  in 
their  manner  and  conversation.  There  is  a  harshness  of  sound 
in  the  Mahratha  language  which  at  first  gives  the  foreigner  the 
idea  that  all  who  use  it  are  angry. 

18.  The  Hindoos,  to  some  extent,  use  "intoxicating  drugs,  as 
opium  and  bhang."     Opium-eaters  are  not  common  among  the 
Hindoos.     Many  Mussulmans  in  India  use  opium  to  a  shameful 
excess.    The  bhang,  or  preparation  from  the  seed  of  the  hemp,  is 
more  commonly  iised ;  but  this  is  not  so  general  as  to  make  it  a 
national  habit.     Smoking  tobacco  in  the  hukar,  and  chewing  the 
pan-sooparee,  are  almost  universal.     The  pan  is  an  astringent 
leaf,  and  sooparee  is  the  bedel-nut,  which,  with  &  little  chunam, 
(a  preparation  of  lime,)  are  chewed  by  all  of  every  age  and  sex. 
They  color  the  teeth  red.     When  smoking,  persons  of  the  same 
caste  form  a  circle,  sitting  in  a  row  on  their  heels ;  the  hukar  is 
then  passed  around ;  each  man  takes  but  one  whiff,  and  hands  it 
to  his  neighbor. 

19.  "  The  giving  of  instruction "  is,  with  the  Brahmun  and 
the  gooroo,  a  mere  matter  of  selfishness.     They  teach  whatever 
will  promote  their  own  interest  and  gratification,  and  they  sup- 
pose that  these  can  only  be  promoted  by  the  mental  bondage  and 
the  ignorance  of  the  people.     And  hence  the  "instructions" 
which  they  have  to  give  are  generally  "  bad  "  for  their  disciples, 
and  their  "  advice  "  is  often  pernicious.     I  have  shown  for  what 
reason  holy  places  are  sustained,  why  pilgrimages  are  enjoined, 
and  for  what  reasons  penances  and  austerities  are  prescribed. 
All  these  things  are  "  advised "  or  commanded  to  profit  or  ag- 
grandize the  priesthood. 

20.  "  The  muntru  and  tuntru "  are  charms  and  mystic  cere- 
monies, to  which  is  attributed  an  unlimited  influence  in  the  cure 
of  diseases,  in  the  removal  of  difficulties,  and  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  anything  which  the  Brahmun,  who  alones  possesses  this 
marvelous  power,  may  wish.      I  have  spoken  on  this  subject 
elsewhere,  but  may  here  farther  say,  that  such  is  the  confidence 
of  the  common  people  in  this  manner  of  removing  diseases,  that 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  359 

they  are  universally  prone  to  resort  to  it.  The  Brahmuns,  by 
their  clever  management  in  this  species  of  roguery,  so  well  time 
their  manoeuvres,  that  they  often  seem  to  be  successful ;  and  if 
they  fail,  the  failure  is  readily  attributed  to  a  want  of  faith  in  the 
people,  or  some  extraneous  circumstance. 

21.  I  have  already  alluded  to  the  "usages"  which  the  Hin- 
doos practice  at  "  births  and  funerals."     The  "  marriage  ceremo- 
nies" are  still  more  burdensome  and  expensive.     The  wedding 
garments,  the  numerous  processions,  the  musicians,  the  feastings, 
the  illuminations,  and  all  the  attendant  rites  and  ceremonies  of 
these  occasions,  render  a  Hindoo  wedding  a  season  of  great  dissi- 
pation and  expense.    The  marrying  season  continues  about  three 
months,  during  which  the  whole  community  participate  in  the 
hilarity,  at  least  so  much  as  to  find  in  it  a  standing  excuse  for  a 
holiday.      The  marriages  of  the  rich  are  truly  splendid.     No 
expense  is  spared  by  the  fathers  of  the  bride  and  of  the  groom 
to  render  their  respective  entertainments  grand  and  imposing. 
The   common  classes   of  the  people  try  to  imitate  the  more 
wealthy,  and  spend  all  they  have  and  all  they  can  get  on  credit 
at  the  marriage  of  a  son  or  a  daughter.    Debts  thus  contracted 
are  handed  down  from  father  to  son,  as  his  patrimony ;  and  thus 
a  poor  man  may  be  paying  twenty-five  per  cent,  interest  for 
money  borrowed  at  his  great  grandfather's  marriage. 

22.  "  Games  of  chance "  are  common  in  India.     Cards  and 
chess  are  well  known,  and  much  used.  People  of  all  ranks  spend 
much  of  their  time  at  their  different  games,  sometimes  simply  for 
amusement,  but  not  unfrequntly  for  money.     Many  of  the  na- 
tives are  very  skillful  players;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  the 
Hindoos  have  long  been  acquainted  with  most  of  our  western 
games,  and  they  have  several  which  are  peculiar  to  themselves. 

23.  "We  will  do  evil  to  no  man"  —  a  resolution  worthy  of 
the  best  Christian  in  the  19th  century,  in  any  part  of  the  world. 
Christianity  is  the  only  religion  which  pretends  to  a  power  suffi.- 
cient  to  emancipate  its  votaries  from  selfishness.     Its  motto  is, 
"  Peace,  good  will  towards  men."     To  do  evil  to  no  man,  neither 
in  word,  deed,  or  thought  —  never  to  advance  our  own  interests 


360  INDIA   AXD   ITS   PEOPLE. 

to  the  prejudice  of  our  neighbor,  is  a  consummation  in  holy  liv 
ing  devoutly  to  be  wished.  This  negative  virtue,  so  excellent, 
and  so  hard  to  practice,  is  the  legitimate  fruit  of  Christianity 
Hindooism  can  pretend  to  no  such  excellence.  Her  votaries  are 
full  of  maliciousness,  envy,  murder,  debate,  deceit,  malignity, 
whisperers,  backbiters,  proud,  and  in  venters  of  evil  things.  They 
devise  evil  against  their  neighbor,  and  do  not  hesitate  to  sacrifice 
his  interest  and  his  comfort  to  their  own.  May  that  wisdom 
which  is  from  above,  full  of  mercy  and  good  fruits  —  may  that 
charity  which  suffereth  long,  and  is  kind,  which  envieth  not, 
which  vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up,  which  seeketh  not 
her  own,  thinketh  no  evil,  and  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  guide 
and  possess  the  heart  of  the  poor  selfish  Hindoo. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

The  Moral  Character  of  the  Hindoos  no  ground  of  Discouragement  to  Missionary 
Efforts  among  them — The  Result  of  such  Efforts  as  Great  as  the  Present  State  of 
the  Church  Warrants  us  to  Expect — Much  may  be  Expected  when  the  Right 
Spirit  shall  Pervade  the  Church. 

IN  concluding  this  volume,  the  thought  occurs  that  an  unwar- 
rantable inference  may  be  drawn  from  the  unlovely  character 
which  I  have  given  of  the  Hindoos.  Should  it  be  inferred  from 
the  account  which  I  have  given  of  the  character  of  that  part  of 
the  heathen  world,  and  of  the  success  which  has  hitherto  at- 
tended all  endeavors  to  ameliorate  their  condition,  that  they  can- 
not be,  converted  to  Christianity,  the  inference  does  not,  necessarily, 
go  to  impeach  the  veracity  of  my  account  of  them.  It  rather  re- 
fleets  on  the  Christian  logic  of  those  who  draw  the  inference.  In 
the  Christian's  philosophy,  the  badness  of  moral  character  can 
never  be  predicated  as  a  ground  of  discouragement,  or  a  reason 
for  the  want  of  success.  If  so,  where  would  be  our  personal 
hopes  of  salvation  ?  where  our  hopes  of  the  conversion  of  the 
world?  Nor  can  the  want  of  success  among  a  particular  portion 


INDIA   AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  '  . .  .  361 

of  the  heathen,  at  a  given  time,  and  under  given  circumstances, 
be  taken  as  an  indication  that  such  a  portion  of  the  heathen 
world  cannot  be  converted.  There  may  be  some  grand  defect  in 
the  application  of  the  means. 

I  am  aware  that  I  have  portrayed  the  darker  shades  of  the 
Hindoo  character,  and  that  I  have  pursued  a  similar  course  in 
regard  to  missionary  labors  in  that  country.  But  this  I  have  not 
done  unadvisedly.  It  is  more  agreeable  to  give  the  more  bril- 
liant colors  to  a  picture.  It  is  more  agreeable,  in  missionary 
operations,  to  reflect  upon  and  to  describe  the  little  which  has  been 
done,  and  what  facilities  and  encouragements  there  are  for  our 
future  progress,  than  to  speak  of  the  much  which  remains  to  be 
done,  and  of  the  obstacles  and  discouragements  which  every 
where  stare  us  in  the  face.  Hence  this  has  been  done  by  others. 
It  therefore  seemed  to  devolve  on  me  to  fill  up  the  picture,  by 
supplying  the  darker  shades.  The  difficulties,  I  trust,  have 
neither  been  overrated  nor  the  Hindoos  belied ;  nor  any  motive 
actuated  the  writer,  except  that  of  presenting  the  friends  of  mis- 
sions with  an  impartial  view  of  the  work  which  they  have  to  do, 
hoping  by  this  means  that  they  will  pray  more  understandingly, 
as  well  as  more  fervently,  and  give  more  liberally,  and  devote 
themselves  to  the  work  more  freely.  i 

The  patrons  of  foreign  missions  have,  if  I  mistake  not,  often 
indulged  in  feelings  of  despondency  in  reference  to  our  mission 
in  Western  India.  They  say  the  mission  has  been  established 
more  than  forty  years ;  that  the  Gospel  has  been  preached  during 
nearly  all  this  period ;  that  great  quantities  of  tracts  and  por- 
tions of  the  Scripture  have  been  circulated ;  that  schools  have 
been  established  and  supported ;  that  a  great  number  of  youth 
have  been  taught  the  rudiments  of  Christianity ;  that  great  sums 
of  money  have  been  expended  there ;  that  much  precious  health 
has  been  sacrificed,  and  many  valuable  lives  lost,  and  hitherto 
little  apparent  success  has  followed. 

Such  is  the  view  which  many  good  people  have  taken  of  that 
mission ;  and  hence  there  has  been  a  reluctance  on  the  part  of 
the  candidates  for  missionary  labor  to  engage  in  that  field,  and 


862  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

no  doubt  a  corresponding  doubting,  and  hesitation,  and  luke- 
warmness  on  the  part  of  Christians  in  general.  What  I  wish 
principally  to  show  in  this  chapter  is,  in  the  first  place,  that  the 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  conversion  of  India,  and  the  supposed 
want  of  success  in  missionary  labors,  have  been  overrated ;  and 
in  the  second  place,  that  the  real  want  of  success  may  be  owing 
to  a  wrong  state  of  feeling  in  the  churches  at  home. 

The  "romance  of  missions"  has  not  yet  entirely  given  place 
to  that  sober,  deliberate,  common-sense,  dependent,  and  prayerful 
state  of  mind  which  Christian  experience  teaches  is  the  only 
safe,  and  proper,  and  effectual  way  of  conducting  so  important 
an  affair  as  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel.  There  is  a  vail  of 
mystery  —  a  mist — a  dusky  cloud  between  Christians  in  this 
country  and  the  heathen  world.  They  see  men  there  as  trees 
walking.  They  look  through  a  medium  which  presents  a  double 
refraction  in  reference  to  missionary  labors ;  but  it  presents  no 
form  at  all  when  they  contemplate  the  character  of  the  heathen. 
They  do  not  consider  that  depravity  is  radically  the  same  there ; 
that  the  missionary  has  to  contend  with  the  same  hatred  to  di- 
vine things,  the  same  obduracy  of  heart  and  pervisity  of  will 
which  try  the  patience  and  exhaust  the  energies  of  the  minister 
at  home;  'that  all  the  corruptions  of  human  nature  which 
are  to  be  met  with  in  a  Christian  land,  and  which  here  meet 
a  rebuke  in  an  enlightened  public  sentiment,  present  a  bold, 
unblushing  front  to  the  missionary,  sanctioned  by  custom,  con- 
firmed and  familiarized  by  habit,  and  authorized  by  the  cur- 
rent system  of  religion.  The  worshiping  of  an  uncarved  stone, 
or  a  loathsome  reptile,  is  so  repugnant  to  their  own  feelings,  and 
to  common  sense  and  reason,  and  so  absurd,  and  so  dishonoring 
to  the  majesty  of  Heaven,  they  seem  to  suppose  that  the  poor 
benighted  heathen  need  only  be  pointed  to  a  "  more  excellent 
way,"  and  they  are  ready  to  embrace  it.  They  wonder  at  the 
tardiness  of  the  heathen,  they  are  astonished  that  they  can  vin- 
dicate the  worship  of  idols,  and  are  half  inclined  to  think  that 
such  blindness  and  stupidity  warrant  us  to  abandon  them  to 
their  fate.  They  expect  more  from  the  application  of  the  same 


INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE.  363 

quantity  of  means  in  a  heathen  land,  than  is  expected  or  expe- 
rienced in  a  Christian  land ;  whereas  they  ought  to  expect  much 
less. 

Missionaries  are  sent  out  at  the  rate  of  about  one  to  a  million 
of  the  heathen.  They  must  speak  in  a  strange  tongue ;  supply 
the  whole  country  with  books ;  they  are  expected  to  take  on 
themselves  the  education  of  the  youth  of  the  nation ;  to  change 
customs,  and  laws,  and  prejudices;  to  overthrow  a  system  of 
religion  which  has  held  the  public  mind  in  absolute  bondage  for 
many  centuries;  to  civilize,  refine,  and  Christianize  a  whole 
nation,  and  all  this  in  a  few  short  years.  That  is  called  an  "  un- 
successful mission,"  where  the  missionary  can  only  report,  after 
ten  or  twelve  years,  that  the  work  is  but  begun ;  that  only  a  few 
have  as  yet  been  converted ;  but  that  Christianity  has  been  exten- 
sively preached ;  that  a  great  quantity  and  a  great  variety  of 
Christian  books  have  been  prepared,  published,  widely  circulated 
and  read ;  that  a  great  number  of  children  are  in  the  process  of 
a  Christian  education ;  and  that  all  the  means  which  we  are  com- 
manded to  use  are  in  operation,  and  are,  we  confidently  hope, 
preparing  the  way  for  a  glorious  result.  "We,  as  missionaries, 
have  a  right  to  claim  the  same  indulgence,  on  account  of  our  own 
frailty  and  insufficiency,  as  is  allowed  to  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
at  home.  We  have  a  right  to  demand,  in  reference  to  our  labors, 
the  same  indulgence,  with  regard  to  the  perversity  and  obduracy 
of  human  nature,  as  is  conceded  to  the  religious  teacher  in  a 
Christian  land,  and  the  same  as  has  been  allowed  to  all  reformers. 

Experience  has  shown  that  the  reformation  of  the  world  has 
never  been  an  easy  task.  Noah,  and  Lot,  and  Abraham,  and 
Moses,  experienced  very  serious  difficulties  in  their  efforts  to  re- 
form their  respective  cotemporaries.  The  prophet  Isaiah  grieves 
and  laments  that  so  very  few  regarded  his  message :  "  Who  hath 
believed  our  report,  and  to  whom  is  the  arm  of  the  Lord  re- 
vealed ? "  When  he  had  toiled  through  a  long  life,  and  worn  out 
his  body  in  unwearied  labors  for  the  salvation  of  his  countrymen, 
and  breathed  out  his  soul  in  anxieties  and  lamentations  for  a 


364  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

nard-liearted  and  stiff-necked  people,  he  uttered  the  desponding 
lamentation,  "  I  have  labored  in  vain,  and  spent  my  strength  for 
nought  and  in  vain." 

The  tender-hearted  prophet  Jeremiah  met  with  no  better  suc- 
cess. He  deplored  the  universal  degeneracy  of  his  people ;  he 
grieved  over  their  hardness  of  heart ;  his  spirit  sunk  under  the 
accumulated  burden  of  his  trials  and  his  labors ;  and  in  an  hour 
of  despondency  he  cried,  "  0  that  my  head  were  waters,  and  mine 
eyes  a  fountain  of  tears,  that  I  might  weep  day  and  night  for  the 
slain  of  the  daughter  of  my  people.  O  that  I  had  in  the  wilder- 
ness a  lodging  place  of  a  wayfaring  man,  that  I  might  leave  my 
people,  and  go  from  them."  Disconsolate  prophet  K  how  he  sunk 
under  the  discouragements  of  his  ministry.  After  an  afflictive 
ministry  of  half  a  century,  he  was  called  to  his  reward  above, 
leaving  his  ungrateful  and  depraved  countrymen  almost  as  bad 
as  he  found  them. 

All  the  prophets  experienced  the  same  difficulties.  They 
found  it  no  easy  matter  to  reform  men.  They  prophesied,  as  it 
were,  to  a  valley  of  dry  bones.  They  preached  to  a  people  who, 
having  ears,  would  not  hear,  and  having  eyes,  would  not  see ; 
nor  would  they  understand,  and  turn  and  be  healed.  Their 
thrilling  eloquence  was  for  the  most  part  spent  on  the  desert  air. 
The  apostles  and  the  ministers  of  the  primitive  church  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  but  few  of  their  hearers  embrace  the  doc- 
trines of  the  cross.  The  multitude  rushed  on  to  death  and  ever- 
lasting ruin.  Nor  do  the  present  generation  of  Zion's  watchmen 
report  that  men  are  now  naturally  more  favorably  disposed  toward 
the  truths  of  the  Gospel.  "With  all  the  auxiliaries  which  the 
present  day  affords  for  the  communication  of  the  truth  —  with 
all  their  unwearied  labors  on  the  Sabbath,  in  the  Bible  class  and 
the  Sabbath  school,  in  the  room  of  the  sick  and  at  the  bed  of 
the  dying — they  have  the  happiness  of  seeing  only  a  few,  ou 
of  the  multitudes  to  whom  they  preach,  savingly  benefited.  How 
many  carefully  prepared  and  excellent  sermons  are  preached,  to 
which  we  can  trace  no  visible  utility;  how  many  Bibles  and 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  365 

tracts  are  circulated,  which  are  not  read ;  and  how  much  re- 
ligious instruction  is  wasted,  for  aught  we  can  see,  on  the  pass- 
ing wind  ? 

What  marvel,  then,  if  missionary  operations  must  be  weighed 
in  the  same  balance  ?  "Why  should  it  be  thought  a  thing  incredi- 
ble ?  Why  esteemed  as  if  a  "  strange  thing "  had  happened,  if 
evangelical  labor  among  the  heathen  should  meet  the  same  un- 
welcome reception  that  it  does  in  a  nominally  Christian  land? 
Missionaries  are  sent  to  "  a  people  of  a  strange  speech,  and  of  a 
hard  language.*  Like  the  preacher  at  home,  they  have  to  con- 
tend with  all  the  natural  opposition  of  the  human  heart,  with 
this  addition :  that  the  sins  of  the  heathen  are,  for  the  most  part, 
nurtured  by  ignorance  and  superstition,  and  sanctioned  by  the 
prevalent  system  of  religion.  They  lift  up  their  voice  in  the 
streets ;  in  the  chief  places  of  concourse,  in  the  openings  of  the 
gates,  in  the  city  and  in  the  village  they  cry,  "  How  long,  ye 
simple  ones,  will  ye  love  simplicity,  and  scorners  delight  in  their 
scornings,  and  fools  hate  knowledge  ?  "  They  seize  on  every  occa- 
sion, try  every  motive,  and  ply  every  argument ;  they  employ  all 
their  eloquence,  and  exhaust  their  minds  for  arguments  to  refute 
the  errors  of  the  idolater,  and  persuade  him  to  embrace  a  pure 
and  holy  Gospel.  They  preach  on  the  Sabbath,  and  during  the 
week,  at  their  stated  places  of  worship.  In  weariness  of  body 
and  mental  lassitude,  occasioned  by  the  debilitating  influence  of 
a  tropical  sun,  they  translate  the  word  of  God  into  a  strange 
tongue,  and  prepare  tracts  and  books,  grammars  and  dictionaries. 
They  are  "in  journeyings  often"  for  the  preaching  of  the  Gos- 
pel and  the  distribution  of  the  word  of  God.  As  they  travel 
from  place  to  place,  lodging  in  sheds  or  open  temples,  and  some- 
times in  want  of  the  most  common  comforts  of  life,  they  every 
where  contend  for  the  Christian  faith.  But  so  averse  is  the 
Pagan's  heart  to  Divine  truth,  so  blinded  is  he  to  all  the  dictates 
of  reason  and  common  sense,  and  so  infatuated  is  he  by  a  system 
of  false  religion,  which  satisfies  that  natural  propensity  to  have 
some  religion,  and,  at  the  same  time,  leaves  him  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  all  his  carnal  propensities,  that,  if  he  deign  to  turn  aside 


366  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

for  a  moment  to  listen  to  the  tender  entreaties  and  the  precious 
promises  of  the  Gospel,  he  hears  the  story  of  the  cross  as  it  were 
an  idle  tale.  Now  and  then  one  receives  the  Gospel  gladly,  and 
it  proves  to  him  a  savor  of  life  unto  life ;  while  the  vast  majority 
who  hear  (as  is  the  case  in  a  Christian  land)  go  on  with  the  mul- 
titude to  do  evil.  They  behold,  wonder,  despise,  and  perish ! 

Thus  must  the  missionary  toil  in  an  unfriendly  climate,  far 
from  home  and  friends,  and  all  that  had  become  endeared  in  his 
native  country  —  thus  must  he  exhaust  his  strength  and  pour  out 
his  life,  struggling  with  ill  health,  and  expecting  an  early  grave. 
His  soul  must  be  tortured  by  the  abominations  of  idolatry;  his 
faith  staggers  at  the  mountain-like  discouragements  which  sur- 
round him  on  every  side,  if,  for  a  moment,  he  lose  sight  of  the 
Divine  promises.  The  demands  which  are  made  on  his  patience 
by  the  stupidity,  the  ignorance,  the  dissimulation,  the  treachery, 
the  falsehood,  the  dishonesty,  and  the  general  perverseness  and 
obduracy  of  the  heathen,  oftentimes  threaten  to  overwhelm  him 
in  the  vortex  of  despair.  His  nerves  become  unstrung,  disease 
preys  on  his  vitals,  and  not  unfrequently  he  finds  an  untimely 
grave.  And  what  is  the  result  of  such  sacrifices,  such  labors  and 
trials?  It  is,  with  fewer  exceptions  than  may  at  first  be  sup- 
posed, just  what  the  result  of  the  sacrifices,  labors  and  trials  of 
the  patriarchs  and  prophets  was,  and  just  what  the  result  of  the 
labors  of  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  of  the  present  clay  is.  The 
few  hearken  to  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  Man,  and  live;  while  the 
multitude  pass  on  to  death  and  everlasting  destruction. 

A  review  of  the  apparent  success  which  a  preached  Gospel  has 
met  in  the  world  for  eighteen  centuries  past,  is,  by  no  means, 
flattering  to  the  moral  character  of  man.  It  is  not  my  design 
here  to  discuss  this  forbidding  subject ;  but  I  have  alluded  to  it 
to  show  that  the  difficulties  which  the  missionary  has  to  contend 
with  are  not  peculiar  to  his  labors.  They  are  common  to  all  the 
benevolent  efforts  which  have  ever  been  made.  And  the  same 
course  of  reasoning  which  many  adopt,  in  reference  to  mission- 
ary labor  among  the  heathen,  if  applied  to  benevolent  enterprises 
at  home,  would  discourage  the  stoutest  hearts  and  enfeeble  the 


INDIA   AND   ITS    PEOPLE.  367 

strongest  hands.  The  grand  difficulty  lies  in  the  perverse  will 
and  in  the  obdurate  heart  of  man.  The  reason  why  the  Gospel 
has  had  so  little  apparent  success,  either  in  this  country  or  in 
heathen  lands,  is,  because  men  love  darkness  rather  than  light. 
Licentious  man  does  not  like  the  straight  and  narrow  way.  We 
experience,  in  general,  the  same  obstacles  to  the  truth  in  India ; 
and,  in  its  general  character,  the  same  success  which  is  experi- 
enced in  a  Christian  land.  There  are  important  specific  differ- 
ences ;  but  these  do  not  change  the  general  character  of  the  work.' 
Depravity  there  flourishes  in  its  own  native  soil ;  its  features  are 
the  same  as  in  a  Christian  land ;  and  it  presents  the  same  oppo- 
sition to  the  light  and  to  the  truth. 

What  is  our  conclusion,  then  ?  Shall  we  say  that  the  word  of 
God  has  taken  none  effect  ?  What  if  some,  yea,  what  if  many 
have  not  believed  ?  Shall  their  unbelief  make  the  faith  of  God 
without  effect?  By  no  means.  We  can  only  say,  in  reference  to 
these  obstacles  and  discouragements,  that  man  is  "  desperately 
wicked — the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God — not  subject  to 
the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be." 

But  supposing  the  obstacles  to  be  as  great,  and  the  success  of 
missions  to  India  as  limited  as  many  have  supposed,  what  influ- 
ence ought  such  facts  to  have  on  our  benevolent  enterprises  ? 
Ought  they  to  dishearten  us,  and  to  lead  us  to  abandon  the  work  of 
the  world's  reformation  ?  or  ought  they  to  clothe  us  with  humility, 
to  bring  us  for  help  to  the  foot  of  the  cross,  and  to  quicken  our 
diligence  ? 

It  is  evident  they  ought  not  to  dishearten  us.  Our  motto  in 
discouragements  is,  "  Paul  may  plant,  and  Apollos  may  water, 
but  God  giveth  the  increase.  He  that  planteth  is  nothing,  and 
he  that  watereth  is  nothing,  but  God  that  giveth  the  increase." 
Our  sufficiency  is  all  of  God.  The  work  is  vast,  the  enemy 
against  whom  we  contend  is  formidable  and  potent;  but  the 
weapons  of  warfare  are  not  carnal,  but  mighty,  through  God,  to 
the  pulling  down  of  strong  holds.  There  can  be  no  failure  on 
the  ground  of  the  potency  of  the  enemy,  or  of  the  weakness  of 
our  armor,  or  of  the  insufficiency  of  our  Leader.  There  is  no 


368  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

want  of  promises  on  the  part  of  God  that  he  will  bless  our 
labors,  nor  any  want  of  ability  in  Him  to  fulfill  his  promises. 
"We  may  then  rest  assured,  that  no  well-directed,  pious  efforts  of 
ours  shall  be  suffered  to  go  without  a  reward,  or  shall  fail  to 
accomplish  some  glorious  end  in  the  kingdom  of  our  Redeemer. 

The  very  thing  which  we  desire,  may  not  be  accomplished  just 
in  the  way  we  had  supposed ;  and  the  thing  which  GOD  sees  to  be 
desirable,  and  which  he  has  determined  to  do,  may  not  be  accom- 
plished at  that  very  point  of  time  when  we  think  best.  But  he  is 
certain  to  do  it  in  the  best  time  and  in  the  best  manner.  This 
point  is  beautifully  and  forcibly  illustrated  by  the  following 
simile  :  "  For  as  the  rain  cometh  down  from  heaven,  and  re- 
turneth  not  thither,  but  watereth  the  earth,  and  maketh  it  bring 
forth  and  bud,  that  it  may  give  seed  to  the  sower,  and  bread  to 
the  eater ;  so  shall  my  word  be  that  goeth  forth  out  of  my  mouth ; 
it  shall  not  return  to  me  void,  but  it  shall  accomplish  that  which  I 
please,  and  it  shall  prosper  in  the  thing  whereto  I  sent  it."  We, 
as  Christians  and  as  loyal  subjects  to  our  heavenly  King,  need 
only  know  what  is  commanded,  and  we  are  bound  to  do  that, 
whether  we  can  fully  understand  the  reason  of  it  or  foresee  the 
result  or  not.  The  real  success  of  missionary  labors  may  be 
great  when  the  apparent  success  is  very  limited.  The  leaven 
may  be  secretly  at  work,  and  the  "  whole  lump "  may  be  soon 
leavened. 

But  is  it  true,  as  some  have  supposed,  that  the  success  of  the 
Gospel,  in  some  heathen  countries,  has  been  decidedly  less  than 
has  been,  experienced  from  the  same  amount  of  means  in  a 
Christian  land  ?  If  the  circumstances  of  the  two  cases  were  duly 
considered,  and  the  means  employed,  and  the  consequent  success 
were  measured  by  the  same  standard,  I  suspect  the  disparity,  if 
there  be  any,  would  not  be  found  on  the  side  of  the  foreign  field. 
Take  a  district  of  country  in  Is"ew  England,  containing  ten 
parishes ;  or  take,  for  an  example,  ten  churches  in  the  city  of 
!N"ew  York.  Estimate  the  whole  amount  of  supporting  Chris- 
tian institutions  within  the  boundaries  of  these  ten  congrega- 
tions. Put  into  the  account  the  salaries  of  ten  ministers ;  the 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  369 

building  or  annual  rent  of  ten  churches ;  the  cost  of  a  supply  of 
books  for  the  people ;  the  whole  expense  of  schools ;  the  expense 
in  money  and  time  for  Sabbath  schools  and  Bible  classes ;  and 
every  thing,  indeed,  which  goes  to  aid  the  general  cause  of  re- 
ligion or  of  moral  improvement.  And  put  in  an  opposite  column 
the  whole  amount  of  expense  requisite  to  carry  on  the  opera- 
tions of  a  mission  where  there  are  ten  missionaries;  and  not 
only  the  amount  of  the  first  will  be  the  greater,  but,  I  believe, 
the  impartial  observer  will  be  obliged  to  allow,  that  the  success 
of  the  latter  will  not  be  found  to  be  the  less. 

There  is,  therefore,  nothing  in  the  present  aspect  of  our  In- 
dian missions  which  ought  to  dishearten  us ;  and,  consequently, 
in  the  second  place,  nothing  which  should  lead  us  to  abandon 
the  work.  Difficulties  and  discouragements  there  indeed  are ; 
and  some  of  these  appear,  to  human  ken,  to  be  insurmountable. 
But  when  we  compare  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  diffusion 
and  acceptance  of  the  Gospel  in  a  heathen  land  with  the  corre- 
sponding obstacles  in  a  Christian  land,  and,  especially,  when  we 
look  to  the  right  source  for  help,  we  see  no  reason  for  despond- 
ency. "  He  that  observeth  the  wind  shall  not  sow ;  and  he  that 
regardeth  the  clouds  shall  not  reap." 

Had  our  blessed  Redeemer  commanded  us  to  go  into  all  the 
world,  and  convert  every  creature  —  to  change  men's  vile  hearts — 
purify  their  motives — to  rectify  their  consciences,  and  to  do  all 
this  by  human  agency,  we  might  well  despair.  But  we  have  no 
such  command.  The  injunction  is,  "  Go  into  all  the  world,  and 
evangelize  all  nations" — that  is, preach  to  them;  afford  them  the 
means  of  salvation ;  spread  out  the  Gospel  feast,  and  invite  them ; 
declare  to  them  the  precious  promises  to  obedience,  and  proclaim 
the  awful  threatenings  against  the  disobedient.  Set  life  and 
death  before  them  in  all  the  terrors  of  the  one,  and  in  all  the 
loveliness  of  the  other.  Pray  for  them,  and  use  every  means  to 
reclaim  them  from  a  state  of  sin  and  wretchedness,  and  to  bring 
them  into  the  light  and  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God.  More  than 
this  we  cannot  do  —  more  than  this  we  are  not  required  to  do. 

24 


370  INDIA   AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

Wherever,  therefore,  we  may  use  these  means,  there  is,  as  far  as 
we  are  concerned,  a  promising  and  a  desirable  field. 

A  mission,  then,  may  be  called  unsuccessful  only  when  we  are 
prohibited  from  using  the  means.  This  is  not  the  case  with  regard 
to  our  missions  in  India.  We  can  there  preach  the  Gospel,  un- 
obstructed, over  a  section  of  country  containing  millions  of  peo- 
ple, and  to  any  extent  we  please.  We  can  distribute  Christian 
books  as  extensively;  and  no  limits  are  set  to  our  system  of 
schools  but  our  inability  to  support  and  superintend  more. 
These  schools  are  not  so  efficient,  not  so  thoroughly  Christian  as 
we  wish ;  but  they  are  the  best  that  we  can  have.  They  are 
supplied  with  Christian  books,  which  are  daily  read ;  and  they 
are  visited  by  the  missionary,  who  enforces  the  truth  contained 
in  the  books,  and  imparts,  in  the  course  of  the  year,  a  great 
amount  of  religious  instruction. 

When,  in  his  wise  designs,  God  has  determined  to  cause  the 
seed  thus  sown  to  vegetate,  spring  up,  and  bear  the  fruits  of 
righteousness,  is  beyond  the  precincts  of  human  sagacity  to  dis- 
cover. We  have  a  plain  duty  to  do,  and  an  opportunity  is  now 
afforded  to  do  it.  But  we  cannot  expect  success  even  in  doing 
this  duty,  if  we  are  not  willing  to  commit  the  result  entirely  to 
God,  and  freely  to  surrender  to  him  all  the  glory  for  its  accom- 
plishment. We  have  assurances  enough  that  our  labors  shall  not 
be  in  vain;  although  we  may  for  a  time  seem  to  labor  in  vain,  and 
to  spend  our  strength  for  nought.  What  though  the  heathen  do 
rage,  and  the  people  imagine  a  vain  thing ;  the  kings  of  the  earth 
set  themselves,  and  the  rulers  take  counsel  together,  against  the 
Lord  and  against  his  Anointed  ?  Shall  not  He  that  sitteth  in  the 
heavens  laugh?  Shall  not  the  Lord  have  them  in  derision? 
Shall  He  not  speak  to  them  in  His  wrath,  and  vex  them  in  His 
sore  displeasure  ?  Shall  He  not  give  to  his  Son — either  in  judg- 
ment to  destroy,  or  in  mercy  to  save  —  the  heathen  for  his  inher- 
itance, and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  a  possession  ? 
What  though  we  preach  to  a  people  who  oftentimes  appear  as 
hardened  and  as  stupid  and  senseless  as  the  idols  they  worship  ? 
What  though  we  contend  with  their  unprincipled,  subtle,  avari- 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  371 

cious  and  scoffing  priests.  What  though  we  prepare  and  publish 
books,  some  of  which  are  read,  some  thrown  aside  as  useless  and 
some  destroyed  ?  "What  though,  for  a  time,  the  people  persist  in 
the  rejection  of  every  measure  we  may  adopt?  Must  we  aban- 
don such  a  nation  to  their  own  wretchedness?  May  we  forestall 
the  judgment  of  God  by  pronouncing  our  judgment  of  condem- 
nation upon  them  ?  Shall  we  withdraw  from  them  the  flickering 
lamp  of  life,  just  at  the  time,  perhaps,  when  God  may  be  about 
to  light  it  up  into  a  mighty  flame  ? 

Such  notions  of  despondency  are  founded  on  a  wrong  princi- 
ple. They  exalt  the  judgment  and  the  will  of  man ;  but  degrade 
the  judgment  and  the  will  of  God.  They  assume  that  Christians 
must  walk  by  sight.  They  demand  that  missionaries  should  at 
all  times  be  able  to  point  out  something  which  they  have  done  — 
something  tangible  —  something  describable.  It  is  human  to  err 
thus ;  and  God,  as  it  would  seem,  out  of  indulgence  to  our  infir- 
mities, has  condescended  to  give  a  share  of  visible  success  to  most 
of  our  endeavors  to  do  good.  This  he  may  have  done  to  afford 
us  a  visible  token  of  his  approbation,  and  to  give  us  a  pledge  of 
what  he  will  do. 

Thus  much,  at  least,  has  been  vouchsafed  to  the  Mahratha 
mission.  We  have  not  there  been  left  without  a  witness.  A 
succession  of  converts,  though  their  number  has  never  been  great, 
has  borne  testimony,  by  their  professions  and  their  practice,  that 
the  grace  of  God  can  and  will  transform  a  wayward,  vile  Hin- 
doo into  a  consistent,  devout  Christian.  And  such  has  been  the 
character  of  our  converts,  in  respect  to  rank,  as  to  show  us  that 
caste  and  custom  present  no  obstacle  to  the  conversion  of  the 
heathen  when  once  the  Spirit  of  God  takes  hold  on  the  heart. 
We  have  had  converts  from  almost  every  caste ;  from  the  arro- 
gant, hypocritcal  Brahmun  down  to  the  poor  degraded  Pariah ; 
each  exemplifying,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  and  according  to 
their  several  abilities,  and  in  their  different  spheres,  the  graces 
of  Christianity.  We  may  regard  these  as  specimens  of  what 
God  can  do,  and  as  pledges  of  what  he  will  do,  and  as  encour- 


372  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

agements  to  our  weak  faith.  Let  Christians  at  home  —  let  mis- 
sionaries abroad — do  their  duty,  and  trust  to  God  for  the  result, 
and  the  result  will  be  good. 

There  may,  doubtless,  be  reasons  connected  with  the  human 
instrumentality  why  God  withholds  his  blessing  from  our  several 
labors.  The  instruments  may  be  of  a  wrong  spirit,  or  the  means 
may  be  too  partial,  or  they  may  be  applied  without  faith  and  a 
due  dependence  on  God,  or  they  may  be  unaccompanied  with 
the  prayers  of  God's  people ;  and  hence  very  little  or  nothing 
may  be  accomplished. 

Similar  reasons  may,  perhaps,  be  assigned  why  the  Mahratha 
mission  has  not  been  more  abundantly  blessed.  I  am  ready  to 
appropriate  to  myself  a  share  of  the  reproach ;  I  am  willing  to 
suppose  that  another  share  may  fall  to  my  brethren  of  that  mis- 
sion; but  I  would  suggest,  whether  the  church,  collectively,  and 
Christians,  individually,  must  not  share  with  us  the  reproach  of 
ill  success,  which  the  enemies,  if  not  the  friends  of  missions,  have 
attributed  to  our  operations  in  India?  Missionary  labor  among 
the  heathen  is  the  appropriate  work  of  Christ's  church.  Mis- 
sionaries are  their  representatives.  The  responsibility  of  the 
work  rests  not  only  on  the  church  as  a  body,  but  on  every  mem- 
ber that  composes  this  body;  and  in  proportion  as  individuals 
throw  off  this  responsibility,  in  the  same  proportion  the'  work  is 
hindered  among  the  heathen.  The  streams  must  dry  up  in  pro- 
portion as  the  fountain  fails.  You  cannot,  Christian  friends,  ex- 
pect missions  to  prosper,  unless  you  are  engaged  for  their  sup- 
port ;  for  you  are,  under  God,  their  main  pillar. 

Could  I,  for  once,  look  in  upon  you,  on  the  evening  of  the 
first  Monday  of  the  month,  I  could  judge  pretty  correctly  how 
much  reason  you  have  to  expect  that  missions  will  prosper.  The 
churches  have  very  wisely  set  apart  this  evening  to  pray  for  the 
descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  the  success  of  missions  among  the 
heathen,  and  for  the  general  prosperity  and  enlargement  of  the 
Eedeemer's  kingdom.  On  this  evening,  intelligence  from  differ- 
ent and  distant  parts  of  the  world  is  communicated,  and  infor- 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  373 

*V 

mation  may  be  obtained  respecting  the  success  of  the  Gospel 
abroad. 

It  is  but  fair  to  suppose  that  all  who  feel,  as  they  should,  a 
personal  interest  in  the  prosperity  of  Zion — all  who  really  and 
heartily  pray,  "Thy  kingdom  come" — will  desire  to  be  present; 
and,  if  not  from  unavoidable  necessity  detained,  will  be  present, 
on  this  occasion,  to  mingle  their  prayers  with  the  thousands  of 
God's  people,  who  meet  at  this  hour  to  invoke  the  Divine  bless- 
ing on  so  sublime  an  object.  Suppose  a  church  of  two  or  three 
hundred  members  were  to  present,  at  this  monthly  prayer-meet- 
ing, but  two  or  three  dozen  of  her  members,  would  this  not  be  an 
alarming  indication  that  such  a  church  possessed  very  little  inter- 
est in  the  extension  of  Christ's  ^kingdom,  and  very  little  sympa- 
thy for  her  missionaries,  who  have  gone  out  from  her  to  do  her 
work  in  an  inhospitable  climate,  having  relinquished  all  their 
rights  and  privileges  in  their  native  land,  and  voluntarily  sub- 
mitted to  a  state  of  exile  and  trial  to  which  the  happy  people  of 
this  country  are  strangers  ?  Such  churches  there  are  in  America, 
and  not  a  few,  I  fear.  These  churches,  whatever  others  may  do, 
have  no  right  to  complain  of  the  ill  success  of  missions.  They 
themselves  furnish  a  reason  for  ill  success.  They  prevent  "  many 
mighty  works  "  being  done  among  the  heathen. 

It  cannot  be  urged  that  a  monthly  prayer-meeting  for  foreign 
missions  is  a  burdensome  imposition  on  the  church.  One,  or  at 
most  two  hours,  in  the  month,  is  but  a  short  time  to  spend  in  a 
transaction  of  such  vast  magnitude.  This,  when  compared  with 
the  allotments  for  other  meetings,  and  for  other  religious  duties, 
is  but  very  little.  And  no  pious  man  will  say  that  these  allot- 
ments are  greater  than  their  several  objects  deserve.  Pastors  of 
churches  are,  doubtless,  very  faulty  in  not  giving  this  meeting 
more  prominence,  both  in  their  public  notices  of  it,  and,  more 
especially,  in  their  preparation  for  it. 

Let  ministers  do  their  duty — let  every  member  of  the  church 
do  his  duty — let  him  possess  the  spirit  of  his  Divine  Master,  and 
there  will  appear  no  reason  to  be  disheartened,  or  to  abandon  the 


374  INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 

work.  Relying  on  God  for  help,  all  will  press  forward,  &&»  cd 
that,  in  due  time,  they  shall  reap,  if  they  faint  not. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  cause  for  humiliation.  It  has  heen  shown 
that  there  is  a  mysterious  withholding  of  the  Spirit  from  some 
of  our  missions  —  a  paucity  of  converts,  and  a  defection  among 
these  converts.  "We  have  seen  that  the  fault  lies  in  the  instru- 
mentality, not  in  the  agency — with  man,  not  with  God.  The 
difficulty  appears  in  man's  depravity,  not  in  any  want  of  efficiency 
in  the  Gospel.  It  appears  not  only  in  the  heathen's  opposition 
to  the  truth,  but  it  appears  in  that  cold  indifference  which  many, 
perhaps  a  majority  of  Christians,  manifest  in  the  prosecution  of 
their  benevolent  enterprises.  So  things  appear ;  but  could  we 
scrutinize  motives  —  could  we  loo^:  into  the  heart  —  could  we  stand 
by  the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  and  there  see  how  much  is  given 
ostentatiously,  how  much  grudgingly,  how  much  faithlessly ;  and 
could  we  determine  exactly  what  proportion  of  our  benevolent 
operations  has  its  origin  in  selfishness,  or  in  obstinacy  for  private 
opinions,  or  from  ambition,  or  a  love  of  notoriety,  we  should, 
doubtless,  see  less  reason  than  we  now  do  for  any  thing  like  com- 
placency in  our  own  works.  Our  boasting  would  vanish,  our 
self-confidence  would  forsake  us,  and  we  should  oftentimes  regard 
ourselves  rather  as  obstacles  than  as  co-workers  with  God  in  the 
conversion  of  the  world.  Our  song  would  be,  "Not  unto  us,  O 
Lord !  not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy  name  give  glory."  "  Not  foi 
your  sakes  do  I  this,  saith  the  Lord,  be  it  known  unto  you." 

And  yet,  although  God  claims  the  exclusive  glory,  and  declares 
the  agency  in  the  accomplishment  of  every  good  thing  to  be  his 
own,  he  says  he  will  be  inquired  of  by  his  people  to  do  this  for  them. 
"What  humility,  then,  becomes  us  !  "We  should  be  clothed  with 
it  as  with  a  garment  of  sackcloth,  laboring,  praying,  and  doing 
all  those  things  which  are  commanded  us ;  and  after  all  confess, 
"  "We  are  unprofitable  servants ;  we  have  done  that  which  was 
our  duty  to  do." 

The  simple  fact,  so  prominently  expressed,  that  God  will  be  in- 
quired of  by  his  people,  enforces  the  duty  of  prayer  with  a  tre- 
mendous emphasis.  To  expect  that  Christianity  will  prosper  and 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE. 
I 

diffuse  itself  throughout  the  world,  without  the  fervent  aud  the 
effectual  prayer  of  the  church,  is  to  expect  that  God  will  contra- 
dict his  own  word,  and  work  in  a  way  of  which  he  has  given  us 
no  intimation. 

Hence  it  appears,  that  we  can  find  relief  in  our  difficulties  and 
our  discouragements,  in  the  work  of  evangelizing  men,  only  at 
the  foot  of  the  cross.  Help  must  come  from  an  omnipotent  arm ! 

We  look  abroad  upon  the  world  as  upon  a  waste-howling  wil- 
derness. We  see  the  earth  covered  with  darkness,  and  the  peo- 
ple with  gross  darkness.  We  see  an  array  of  wickedness  like  a 
mighty  army;  composed  of  principalities,  and  powers,  and  the 
rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  and  spiritual  wickedness  in 
high  places.  We  quake,  we  fear,  we  begin  to  despond ;  we  cast 
our  eye  toward  Calvary,  and  thence  hear  a  voice,  saying,  "  Be 
strong ;  be  of  good  courage ;  stand  fast  in  the  faith ;  quit  your- 
selves like  men;  for  all  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven 
and  in  earth " — "  Lo !  I  am  with  you."  We  go  to  Calvary. 
There  renew  our  strength  —  derive  fresh  courage  —  drink  in 
new  supplies  of  faith  and  patience  —  put  on  our  armor  —  ac- 
knowledge and  receive  our  Leader,  and  return  to  the  combat. 
There  we  become  assured  of  the  all-sufficiency  of  the  Gospel  to 
reach  and  subdue  the  hearts  of  men.  We  there  find  the  grand 
remedy  for  sin  prepared  for,  and  exactly  suited  to,  the  disease. 
Wherever  it  has  been  applied,  it  has  proved  efficacious.  It  is  a 
sovereign  cure  in  all  climates,  and  among  people  of  every  nation 
and  variety  of  character.  If  once  rightly  applied,  and  cordially 
received,  it  will  purify  the  heart  of  all  its  vileness,  and  restore 
spiritual  health  to  the  soul,  in  spite  of  long-established  custom, 
or  caste,  or  superstition,  or  deep-rooted  prejudice,  or  an  enthrall- 
ing system  of  priestcraft. 

Where,  then,  is  the  nation  so  vile,  so  degraded  and  ignorant, 
BO  superstitious  and  depraved,  that  she  may  not  be  benefited  by 
the  Gospel  ?  Is  India  that  nation  ?  No.  I  have  already  adduced 
instances  of  conversion  among  the  Hindoos,  which  go  to  show 
that  God  can  transform  the  Hindoo  into  a  Christian  as  well  as  he 
can  the  European.  I  have  not,  it  is  true,  presented,  in  this  vol- 


376  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

ume,  a  pleasing  character  of  that  people.  Call  my  report  from 
that  land  a  sad  and  disheartening  account,  if  you  please ;  yet,  be 
assured,  it  is  no  worse  than  the  reality.  But  what  does  this  un- 
favorable account  of  the  Hindoos  go  to  show?  Some  say  it 
shows  that  so  vile  a  people  can  never  be  converted ;  some  say  this 
is  proof  enough  that  we  ought  forthwith  to  abandon  them  to 
their  fate ;  others  infer  that  the  missionary  must  be  discouraged, 
and  would  gladly  give  over  the  enterprise  of  attempting  to  re- 
claim so  depraved  a  people. 

As  these  three  gratuitous  inferences  have  been  drawn,  to  the 
prejudice  of  that  mission,  I  may  be  allowed  to  draw  two  infer- 
ences from  the  same  premises  in  its  favor.  And  the  first  shall  be, 
the  worse  the  disease,  the  more  urgent  the  necessity  of  a  remedy. 

It  will  be  admitted  by  all  who  have  read  the  foregoing  chap- 
ters, that  I  have  proved  the  Hindoos  to  be  bad  enough.  There 
can  be  no  room  for  vacillating,  because  the  disease  has  not 
reached  such  a  crisis  as  to  require  medical  advice,  and  to  demand 
an  immediate  remedy.  Its  symptoms  are  positive.  I  have 
shown  that  the  depravity  of  the  Hindoos,  as  a  moral  disease,  is 
universal;  that  it  has  manifested  itself  there  in  all  its  varied 
forms;  and  that  it  is  inveterate  enough.  It  is  as  old  as  the 
nation — it  has  been  fostered  by  all  the  civil  and  the  religious 
institutions  of  the  country — it  has  insinuated  itself  into  all  the 
veins  and  arteries  of  society,  and  given  a  sickly  hue  to  the  whole 
face  of  the  community  —  it  has  polluted  the  fountain  of  moral 
principle,  and  caused  it  to  send  forth  its  poisonous  streams  to 
vitiate  the  teeming  mass  of  immortal  souls  who  inhabit  that 
great  continent — it  has  enslaved,  in  mental  bondage,  and  re- 
duced to  degradation  and  misery,  a  fifth  part  of  the  population 
of  the  globe ;  and  it  has  sent  down  to  death  and  everlasting  ruin 
countless  millions  of  these  blind  votaries  of  idolatry. 

And  it  will  be  admitted,  that  all  the  attempts  which  the  wise 
men  of  that  nation  have  made  to  find  out  a  remedy  for  this  dis- 
ease have  proved  abortive.  A  remedy  has,  indeed,  been  applied 
from  the  beginning;  but  the  application  has  only  served  to  lull 
the  patient  into  security,  while  it  nourished  the  disease  in  his 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

v  als.  It  is  the  remedy  which  has  done  the  most  mischief — 
which  has  spread  such  a  moral  desolation  throughout  that  land, 
and  blighted  every  enjoyment  which  this  life  affords,  and  extin- 
guished every  hope  of  a  glorious  immortality  beyond  the  grave. 

If  such  be  the  disease,  and  such  the  failure  of  every  attempt 
to  remove  it ;  and  if  we  have  in  our  hands  a  sovereign  cure,  and 
if  it  is  made  our  imperative  duty  to  apply  it,  I  can  see  no  reason 
why  we  should  not  apply  it;  and  I  can  see  no  reason  for  the 
apprehension  that  it  will  not  prove  efficacious  in  this  case,  as  it 
has  in  all  other  cases.  And  I  can  see  no  reason  for  delay.  The 
disease  will  never  heal  itself.  It  will  continue  to  wax  worse  and 
worse  under  its  present  treatment.  Nor  may  we  indulge  the 
hope  that  any  remedy,  except  the  one  intrusted  to  us,  will  ever 
be  found  for  its  removal.  There  is,  therefore,  an  urgent  necessity 
of  affording  the  Hindoos  the  means  of  salvation  immediately.  ' 

The  second  inference  which  I  draw  from  the  bad  moral  charac- 
ter of  the  Hindoos  is,  that  it  ought  to  quicken  our  diligence. 

The  time  which  we  have  to  labor  is  short ;  the  laborers  are  few, 
and  the  work  is  vast.  Life  is  a  vapor  —  a  span  —  and  much  of 
this  limited  period  is  necessarily  taken  up  with  cares  for  the  body 
and  attentions  to  worldly  interests.  But  a  small  portion  remains 
to  be  devoted  to  our  own  immortal  souls,  or  to  the  spiritual  ben- 
efit of  others.  "When  we  begin  to  live,  we  die.  Death  hastens 
on  apace,  and  seals  up  our  accounts  to  the  great  day.  How  for- 
cible the  exhortation  in  our  Savior's  remark,  I  must  work  the  works 
of  him  that  sent  me  while  it  is  day :  the  night  cometh  when  no  man 
can  work.  How  careful  ought  we  to  be  that  the  brief  space  of 
time  which  is  allowed  us  should  be  filled  up  in  usefulness  to  our 
fellow  creatures. 

The  laborers,  too,  are  few.  The  multitude  which  throng  "the 
broad  road  to  destruction  is  vast.  But  they  will  not  help  us. 
They  care  not  for  their  own  souls,  and  how  shall  they  care  for 
the  souls  of  others  ?  How  can  they  enter  into  our  plans  of  be- 
nevolence to  rescue  a  perishing  world  ?  This  is  all  foolishness  to 
them.  They  neither  understand  the  nature  of  such  plans,  nor 
feel  the  necessity  of  them.  The  "  earth "  may  help  the  "  wo- 


878  INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 

man,"  and  we  should  gladly  receive  such  aid ;  but  we  must  not 
reckon  on  such  precarious  assistance.  On  the  other  hand,  how 
small  is  the  number  of  the  truly  pious !  Because  straight  is  the- 
gate  and  narrow  is  the  way  which  leadeth  to  life,  and  few  there  be  that 
find  it.  And  among  those  who  have  professed  to  surrender  all 
things  into  the  hands  of  their  Redeemer,  that  he  may  use  them 
just  as  he  please,  and  who  have,  by  the  solemnity  of  a  covenant, 
given  themselves  into  his  hands,  with  this  unconditional  surren- 
der, Lord,  here  we  are,  do  with  us  as  it  seemeth  good  in  thy  sight, 
among  such  only  a  part  seem  to  recognize  these  awful  obligations 
and  responsibilities  which  rest  upon  them.  The  majority  con- 
sider not  the  case  of  the  destitute,  nor  feel  nor  act  for  a  perish- 
ing world.  What,  therefore,  we  want  in  numbers,  we  must  make 
up  in  diligence. 

The  work  is  one  of  vast  magnitude.  The  grand  object  of  Chris- 
tianity is  to  revolutionize  the  world.  The  spirit  of  missions  is  a 
spirit  of  depredation.  Their  object  is  to  subdue,  to  recover,  and 
bring  back  to  allegiance  those  nations  that  have  thrown  off  the 
authority  of  their  rightful  Sovereign,  and  chosen  to  serve  the 
creature  rather  than  the  Creator.  Sin  has  perverted  every  thing. 
It  has  changed  the  customs  and  habits  of  men,  corrupted  their 
maxims,  monopolized  the  use  of  their  property,  absorbed  their 
minds  in  vanity,  blinded  their  eyes,  and  corupted  their  hearts. 
It  is  the  mother  of  all  the  vile  habits,  the  vicious  practices,  the 
degrading  superstitions,  and  the  false  religions  with  which  our 
world  is  afflicted.  It  has  entailed  on  the  human  family  disease, 
and  woe,  and  death.  And  how  deep-rooted  are  all  these  effects 
of  sin !  It  is  the  design  of  Christianity  to  eradicate  all  these 
evils,  and  to  restore  to  human  nature  its  pristine  beauty  and 
dignity. 

But  how  arduous  the  undertaking!  how  mighty  the  enter- 
prise !  The  "  strong  man  armed  "  will  keep  his  place  and  watch 
his  goods  till  a  stronger  than  he  shall  come  upon  him,  and  over- 
come him,  and  take  from  him  all  the  armor  wherein  he  trusted, 
and  divide  his  spoil.  "  The  stronger  than  he,"  is  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  as  revealed  in  the  Gospel.  But  the  conquests  of  the  Gos- 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  379 

pel  must  be  effected  through  human  instrumentality;  and  the 
whole  responsibility  of  this  work  rests  on  professing  Christians. 
However  much  men  of  the  world  may  contribute  to  its  accom- 
plishment, Christians  must  stand  responsible  for  it.  God  will 
require  it  at  our  hands.  Yet  he  has  not  laid  on  us  a  greater  bur- 
den than  we  are  able  to  bear.  He  has  kindly  considered  our 
infirmities,  and  has  only  required  us  to  act  as  instruments  in  his 
hands,  to  the  extent  of  the  ability  which  he  has  given  us.  The 
injunction  laid  on  us,  is  to  use  the  means.  The  extent  of  our 
duty  and  of  our  responsibility  is,  forcibly  and  clearly,  exhibited 
by  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  in  these  words : 

"  If  thou  do  not  speak  to  warn  the  wicked  from  his  way,  that 
wicked  man  shall  die  in  his  iniquity,  and  his  blood  will  I  require 
at  thine  hand.  Nevertheless,  if  thou  warn  the  wicked  of  his  way 
to  turn  from  it ;  if  he  do  not  return  from  his  way,  he  shall  die  in 
his  iniquity,  but  thou  hast  delivered  thy  soul." 

Nothing  unreasonable  is  required  of  us — we  have  no  reason 
to  complain,  none  to  despond.  All  murmuring,  all  unbelief,  all 
fretting  about  success,  while  we  are  faithfully  and  perseveringly 
applying  the  means,  is  useless,  it  is  sinful,  it  is  rebellious,  it  is 
setting  up  our  puny  judgment  in  the  place  of  the  unerring*  judg- 
ment of  God.  We  need  only  to  quicken  our  diligence ;  to  use  to 
the  best  advantage  the  time,  the  influence,  the  talents,  the  prop- 
erty, which  God  has  given  us;  to  let  our  personal  example  be 
such  as  to  recommend  the  religion  we  profess ;  and  to  be  fervent 
in  our  supplications,  that  all  our  efforts  may  be  crowned  with  the 
divine  blessing,  and  all  our  labors  will  be  followed  by  a  glorious 
result  —  whether  it  be  that  particular  result  which  we  desire,  or 
that  more  stupendous  one  which  God  sees  to  be  best. 

But  I  am  to  show  in  the  conclusion  that  the  success  which  has 
hitherto  attended  our  attempts  to  propagate  the  Gospel  has  been 
as  great  as  the  state  of  the  church  has  ever  warranted  us  to  ex- 
pect ;  and  that  the  present  state  of  the  church  does  not  warrant 
us  to  expect  more  than  we  now  realize. 

"We  have  seen  how  great  are  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the 
advancement  of  the  Gospel ;  we  have  seen  how  universal,  how 


880  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

obstinate,  is  the  disease  to  which  we  are  called  to  apply  a  remedy. 
"We  see  how  vast  is  the  work,  how  few  are  the  laborers,  and  how 
short  the  time  allotted  to  us  for  its  accomplishment.  "We  see,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  remedy  provided  and  well  adapted  to  the  cause, 
and  a  power  sufficient  to  render  it  efficacious.  But  we  find  that 
the  presentation  of  this  remedy  must  be  made  by  men,  and  but 
few,  comparatively  but  a  handful  of  the  human  family,  have  a 
heart  to  engage  in  this  work ;  and  many  of  these  engage  in  it 
with  a  reluctance,  and  hesitation,  and  indifference  which  paralyze 
all  their  efforts.  We  find,  too,  that  the  power  which  alone  can 
give  efficacy  to  all  human  endeavors,  must  be  sought,  by  fervent 
and  believing  prayer.  How  few  these  efforts,  how  doubting  the 
prayers  which  are  offered  up  for  this  object !  How  inadequate 
the  means  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  end ! 

"When  we  take  an  impartial  survey  of  the  different  missions 
under  the  patronage  of  the  American  churches,  we  are  obliged 
to  confess  that  the  success  which  has  attended  them,  as  a  whole, 
has  not  been  such  as  the  promises  of  God  warrant  us  to  expect. 
The  well-known  character  of  God ;  his  willingness  to  grant  the 
influences  of  his  Spirit — on  which  alone  we  depend  for  all 
our  success — his  delight  in  the  enlargement  of  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom ;  the  manner  in  which  he  has  always  guarded  the  in- 
terests of  his  church,  are  our  best  vouchers  of  his  readiness  to 
bless  all  the  efforts  of  his  people,  if  they  were  put  forth  in  the 
right  spirit.  The  question  then  recurs,  Why  is  it  that  God  does 
not  more  abundantly  bless  our  foreign  missions  ?  Is  it  because 
Christians  do  not  desire  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  ?  No : 
their  good  wishes  are  abundantly  expressed  on  this  subject.  Is  it 
because  they  do  not  pray  for  this  object  ?  ISTo :  they  pray,  "  Thy 
kingdom  come."  Nor  do  I  believe  that  Christians  are  unwilling 
to  give  their  money  for  the  support  of  missions.  But  still,  there 
is  something  that  hinders  the  blessing ;  and,  as  professed  disciples 
of  the  blessed  Redeemer,  we  ought  honestly  to  search  out  the 
causes  of  the  divine  displeasure,  and  speedily  to  remove  them  if 
in  our  power.  I  will  suggest  what  may  be  some  of  these  causes. 

1.  The  spirit  of  piety  in  the  church  may  be  too  low,  to  allow  of 


INDIA  AND   ITS   PEOPLE.  381 

the  prosperity  of  the  Gospel  at  her  outposts.  The  church  of 
Christ  is  a  fountain,  or  a  well  of  water,  in  the  midst  of  a  desert ; 
alluding  to  the  fact,  that  in  the  East  a  field  is  barren  and  parched 
with  the  heat  for  the  most  part  of  the  year,  if  it  be  not  artifi- 
cially watered.  If  there  be  a  good  fountain  in  the  midst  of  it, 
the  field,  which  would  otherwise  be  a  "  wilderness  and  a  solitary 
place,"  is  made  "glad,"  it  smiles  with  a  fresh  and  beautiful  ver- 
dure, and  the  "  desert  rejoices  and  blossoms  as  the  rose."  All  this 
is  owing  to  the  fountain,  which  sends  forth  its  streams  into  every 
part  of  the  field,  and  fertilizes  the  whole.  If  the  fountain  be 
full,  it  propels  its  streams  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  field,  the 
whole  is  irrigated,  and  is  covered  with  a  luxuriant  vegetation. 
But  if  the  fountain  be  not  full,  the  streams  become  small  and 
feeble,  they  flow  but  a  short  distance,  the  remote  corners  of  the 
field  are  not  irrigated  at  all,  the  vegetation  looks  sickly,  and  dies. 
So  with  the  church.  She  is  the  fountain,  but  she  is  not  full ;  she 
does  not  abound  in  the  Christian  graces.  Her  streams  attempt 
to  flow,  but  they  want  the  propelling  power  at  the  fountain. 
The  seed  is  sown ;  it  springs  up,  but  the  plants  wear  a  sickly  hue. 

2.  The  propagation  of  the  Gospel  among  the  heathen  is  not 
allowed  that  prominence  in  the  minds  of  Christians,  in  general, 
which  it  deserves.     It  is  made  a  secondary  thing  by  most  of 
Christians,  or  a  matter  of  convenience;  whereas,  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  in  the  example  of  the  apostles,  it  is  made  the 
very  genius  of  Christianity,  and  the  first  and  the. indispensable 
duty  of  every  Christian.     A  grand  characteristic  of  the  Gospel 
is  its  tendency  to  diffuse  itself;  and  a  willingness  to  forsake  all 
for  the  sake  of  making  known  the  Gospel,  is  made  a  test  of  dis- 
cipleship.    We  cannot,  therefore,  expect  to  hear  of  any  very  sig- 
nal triumphs  of  the  Gospel  till  Christians  shall  approximate 
somewhere  near  the   Gospel  standard,  in  relation  to  foreign 
missions. 

3.  Christians  do  not,  individually,  feel  a  personal  responsibility 
for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen.     They  throw  the  responsi- 
bility on  the  church,  or  on  a  missionary  society,  or  on  the  body 
of  missionaries — all  ideal  creations,  if  we  exclude  the  idea  of  in- 


382  INDIA  AND  ITS   PEOPLE. 

dividual  responsibility.  Every  Christian  is  bound  to  go  in  person 
to  the  heathen,  if  he  be  not  unavoidably  hindered,  either  for  the 
want  of  the  proper  qualifications,  or  on  account  of  other  circum- 
stances ;  in  which  case  he  must  do  his  duty  to  the  Pagan  world 
by  proxy. 

4.  The  principal  reason,  I  apprehend,  why  missions  to  the 
heathen  are  not  more  abundantly  blessed  is,  that  there  is  a  great 
reluctance  on  the  part  of  Christians  to  consecrate  to  the  Lord, 
in  this  cause,  their  most  precious  possessions.  God  now  requires 
of  his  people,  as  he  did  of  old,  the  best  they  have.  The  sick,  the 
lame,  the  maimed,  the  old,  that  which  had  a  blemish,  or  that 
which  among  the  flock  was  lightly  esteemed,  was  forbidden  to 
be  offered  in  sacrifice  to  the  Lord.  This  was  no  doubt  intended 
as  a  test  to  the  Jews  of  their  loyalty  to  their  Divine  Sovereign. 
Our  love  to  our  Savior  is  to  be  tested  in  a  similar  way.  We  act 
on  this  principle  in  our  earthly  attachments.  In  making  presents 
to  a  highly  esteemed  friend,  we  feel  the  propriety,  both  in  honor 
to  ourselves  and  in  respect  to  our  friend,  to  offer  the  best  we 
have.  "We  may  contribute  most  bountifully  in  support  of  for- 
eign missions,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  be  withholding  that 
which  God  demands,  and  that,  too,  without  which  God  will 
neither  bless  us  in  giving  nor  add  his  blessing  to  that  which  we 
give.  Our  offerings  may  be  such  as  cost  us  little  or  nothing. 
They  may  be  made  of  what  we  can  spare,  without  inconvenience 
or  self-denial;  and  they  may  be  but  the  surplus  of  what  we  em- 
ploy in  our  worldly  business.  We  cannot  expect  that  God  will 
accept  and  honor  such  gifts. 

But  to  apply  these  remarks  :  Christians  at  the  present  day  are 
willing  to  give  their  silver  and  their  gold ;  some  will  give  a  por- 
tion of  their  time  and  of  their  influence  to  a  promotion  of  the 
cause,  as  far  as  it  may  be  done  in  this  country ;  many  are  willing 
to  give  up  their  countrymen  to  go  to  the  heathen ;  and  others  are 
willing  to  spare  their  own  personal  friends.  All  are  willing  to  talk 
and  hear  about  foreign  missions,  many  to  pray  for  them,  and 
most  persons  are  willing  to  contribute  most  largely  and  freely  of 
their  good  wishes.  But  their  own  precious  selves — ah!  here  is  the 


INDIA  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  383 

test.  Now  they  go  away  "  sorrowful,"  for  they  have  "  great  pos- 
sessions "  in  these  precious  selves.  They  are  willing  to  do  any  thing, 
to  give  any  thing,  to  go  any  where,  except  it  be  to  give  themselves  to 
go  to  the  heathen.  In  this  one  thing  they  must  be  excused.  What  pity 
that  talents  like  theirs  should  be  wasted  on  "the  desert  air"  of  a 
Pagan  land !  What  pity  that  attachments,  and  relations,  and 
prospects  like  theirs  should  be  sacrificed  for  a  people  who  may  ill 
appreciate  their  benevolent  motives,  and  who  may  but  ill  re- 
quite their  disinterested  and  laborious  endeavors.  They  fancy 
that  the  church  at  home  cannot  dispense  with  their  very  valu- 
able services  here.  They  call  this  fancy  of  theirs  "  the  finger  of 
Providence ; "  they  now  see  the  path  of  duty  clearly,  and  decide 
to  spend  their  lives  in  their  own  native  land.  If  I  am  not  greatly 
mistaken,  there  are  a  great  number  of  theological  students  in 
our  seminaries  at  this  moment,  and  a  much  greater  number  of 
clergymen  in  America,  who  have  no  better  reason  for  not  engag- 
ing personally  in  the  foreign  service  of  the  church,  than  I  have 
supposed  above. 

But  there  is  another  aspect  to  this  subject.  Those  who  are 
bound  together  by  the  very  dear  ties  of  consanguinity,  are  not 
willing  to  sacrifice  the  pleasures  of  this  relationship.  They  will 
give  any  thing.else,  but  they  cannot  give  their  very  dear  kindred. 
Brothers  and  sisters  cannot  part;  fathers  cannot  give  up  their 
own  children;  mothers  cannot  dissolve  those  tenderest  ties  of 
which  human  nature  is  capable.  Ask  any  thing  else,  say  they, 
and  we  will  give  it;  but  do  not  ask  for  our  children.  Here  is  the 
tender  chord.  How  painfully  it  will  vibrate;  but  it  must  be 
touched.  The  "great  possessions"  of  the  young  ruler  were  hia 
idol ;  he  could  not  follow  Christ  till  he  had  given  up  them.  So 
missions  to  the  heathen  may  not  be  expected  to  prosper  greatly, 
till  Christians  are  willing  to  devote  to  them  their  best  offerings, 
their  "  great  possessions  "  which  they  have  in  their  children. 

What  means  the  present  demand  for  Christian  laborers  ?  A 
single  foreign  missionary  society  ask  for  a  thousand,  and  say 
they  must  have  more  than  a  hundred,  in  order  to  sustain  and 
"  strengthen  existing  missions,  and  to  form  new  ones,"  so  far  as 


384  INDIA  AXD   ITS   PEOPLE. 

to  be  able  to  secure  the  fruit  of  previous  labors.  If  it  does  not 
mean  that  the  most  untiring  pains  must  be  taken  to  search  out 
and  educate  pious  young  men  for  the  ministry — that  candidates 
for  the  sacred  office  must  offer  themselves,  as  embassadors  for 
Christ  among  the  Gentiles,  in  a  tenfold  greater  proportion  than 
they  ever  have  done,  and  that  parents  must  make  a  free-will  offer- 
ing of  their  children  to  this  work — if  it  does  not  mean  this,  then 
I  cannot  divine  what  it  does  mean.  Whenever  the  people  of 
God  will  consecrate  to  the  Lord  their  most  precious  possessions, 
then  we  may  expect  Zion  to  prosper  throughout  the  whole  earth. 

"We  have  seen  what  is  wanting  in  order  to  this  consummation 
so  devoutly  to  be  wished.  No  impossibilities  are  required  of  us ; 
nothing  inconsistent  with  our  spiritual  interests,  and  nothing  in- 
consistent with  our  temporal  interests.  In  giving,  a  man  is  only 
required  to  give  according  to  that  which  he  hath,  and  not  according 
to  that  which  he  hath  not ;  and  in  devoting  ourselves  or  our  friends 
to  the  work,  we  are  only  required  to  pay  a  just  debt.  For  we 
are  bought  with  a  price,  and  are  debtors  to  the  heathen.  "We  arc 
bound  to  offer  ourselves  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  to  the  Lord. 
This  is  a  "reasonable  service;"  a  service  which,  if  cheerfully 
performed,  will  yield  to  ourselves  the  greatest  possible  happiness. 

Let  the  love  of  Christ  constrain  his  people ;  let  the  moving  fact 
that  the  whole  world,  for  whom  Christ  died,  are  dead  in  sin ;  let 
the  touching  fact  that  he  died  for  them,  that  they  who  live 
should  not  henceforth  live  to  themselves,  but  to  Him  who  died 
for  them,  and  rose  again,  take  hold  on  their  hearts,  and  would 
they  not  act  more  vigorously,  and  give  more  liberally,  and  pray 
more  fervently,  than  they  now  do  ?  This  is  all  that  is  wanting. 
Let  such  a  state  of  things  exist,  and  Zion  will  rejoice  at  home, 
and  missions  will  prosper  abroad.  Sin  shall  then  loose  his  giant 
grasp  on  this  wretched  world,  and  people  out  of  every  kindred, 
and  tongue,  and  nation  shall  be  redeemed.  The  ransomed  of  the 
Lord  shall  return  and  come  to  Zion  with  songs  and  everlasting 
joy  upon  their  heads;  they  shall  obtain  joy  and  gladness,  and 
sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee  away. 


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University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

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LOS  ANGELES,  CALIFORNIA  90095-1388 

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